Times Like These
by Tyler-Z-Crimson
Summary: Times Like These is a prequel to The Burrows, please read that first. Nick and Judy have been partners for a while now and they are regarded by most of the ZPD as the forces best officers. We catch up with them at the start of another missing mammal case but there's more to it than meets the eye. Will they be able to solve the case as well as thrash out their personal issues?
1. Chapter 1

Nick walked into the office he and Judy shared with 2 cups of coffee and a couple of doughnuts. He placed Judy's down in front of her and she mouthed a thank-you to him as she was on the phone.

"Sir… yes… I… Sir listen!" Judy shocked herself with how harsh that sounded but it seemed to do the trick. "We are doing everything we can to find your wife, if there are any developments you will be the first to know." She said with a huff.

The mammal on the other end of the phone was a Mr Bengal, a tiger from Savannah central. His wife had been reported missing last night and Nick and Judy had been assigned the case.  
In a serious lapse of common sense and good judgement Judy had given Mr Bengal their direct office number and this was the third time Mr Bengal had called this morning, and it was only 9:30.

"I told you, giving him our number was a mistake." Nick said rather unnecessarily from his desk behind Judy's.  
"Ow." a pen struck him pointy end first in the back of the head.

"I'll have you know, me and my partner have the highest arrest record in Zootopia!" Judy growled down the phone, her tone making Nick flinch away slightly. He could have a good guess at what Mr Bengal had said but he wasn't kept waiting for long. Judy had hung up the phone at was sat with her head on her desk.

"Should we save Bogo's voice and just head up there before he yells for us?" Nick said, bringing a smile back to Judy's face.

"Probably." She replied. "Why does nobody believe in us? no matter how many big cases we solve we are always just the dumb bunny cop and the corrupt fox officer." Her smile had disappeared again. She flopped back in her swivel chair with a sigh and spun herself around.

"That's just more people to prove wrong then isn't it Carrots. Now come on we've got a tiger to find. Plus, I'd rather not be here when Mr Bengal phones Bogo to tell him what a jerk his number two cop is." Nick stood and grabbed his coat from the back of his chair.

"Number two?" Judy said with raised eyebrows.

"Alright number 3 Clawhouser is clearly superior to both of us." Nick said, pulling a silly face at Judy.

Judy gave him a dig in the arm. "Well he does put more away than the whole precinct put together."

"ohhhh, was that a fat joke? That's low Carrots, low." Nick said shaking his head and biting his lip to hold back a laugh.

Nick and Judy pulled up to the spot where Mrs Bengal was last seen. The other officers had set up a crime scene to preserve any evidence that might be present.

"Why is it, when we work outside it always rains." Nick said, staring miserably out of the passenger side window.  
If there was one thing that Nick hated more than anything else it was getting wet.

"Just get on with it." Judy said mockingly.

"What? My fur gets all wet and sticky. It takes ages to dry, then when it does it goes all poofy." Nick gestured to the fur on his arm.

"I like it when your poofy." Judy said, shooting him a cheeky smile as she hopped out of their car. Nick shook his head and followed her towards the crime scene.

"Run me through why this is a crime scene again." Nick asked with his best 'I'm sorry' face. he had been forgetting an awful lot lately, but he had a lot on his mind. His mother was ill, his father had suddenly reappeared and was trying to force his way back into his life, then to top it all off the vixen he had been dating had just left him for an old friend, well that was what he was telling people anyway. Judy had her suspicions that there was more to it.

"Again?" Judy sighed in annoyance

"I'm sorry Carrots, I just can't concentrate." Nick dropped his muzzle, raised his eyebrows and dropped one ear. It was his 'I really am sorry, please don't shoot me' face.

"I know, I'm sorry, it's OK." Judy said, she brushed her paw down his arm reassuringly.  
"We have CCTV from…" Judy paused and started looking around, she stopped and pointed at the corner of a building.  
"That camera showing 3 masked mammals bundle Mrs Bengal into the side door of a black van before speeding off towards Sahara square, but we can't make out the plates."

"Right so we've got one tiger, one van, zero plates, three mammals and 2 skid marks." Nick said, holding back a very immature joke that was on the tip of his tongue, but Judy seemed to sense it anyway. She looked at him and squinted accusingly.

"What?" Nick held his paws out innocently before pointing at Judy and grinning from ear to ear.  
"You didn't find skid marks funny did you? Officer Hopps I thought you were better than that."

"Will you two stop flirting and get to work." Wolford said as he and his partner Fangmeyer walked past. Nick and Judy completely ignored them and walked under the tape, holding their badges out to the officers guarding the scene.

"What we got?" Nick asked to a lioness CSI officer that they had worked with many times. Officer Lowry was bagging some evidence when she turned to face them.

"Wilde, Hopps…" She said happily. "You have no idea how pleased I am to see you, those two are idiots."

"Great solve officer." Nick said sarcastically, cocking his head a little.

"Anything new for us?" Judy chirped, eyeing the evidence bag Lowry was holding.

"Just some blood stained, off white wool we found at the side of the road, it's probably nothing but we're sending it off to the lab just in case." The lioness said dismissively.

Nick and Judy's jaws both dropped open slightly and they shared a knowing glance.

"Ramses." They said to each other at exactly the same time.

"Thanks, get that wool pushed through." Judy said over her shoulder, they were both jogging back to the cruiser to check the computer for any files on Doug Ramses.


	2. Chapter 2

"I'm not sure about this." Judy said as her and Nick walked along the dark, grubby corridor to Doug's apartment.

"He was lifted only last week for assaulting a leopard. Yeah the charge wouldn't stick but there's no doubt It was him." Nick said dismissively. He seemed confident that Doug was their mammal.

"He's just got out of prison. Do you think he'd risk going back inside like this?" Judy asked. She was having serious doubts about going to see Doug, after all they had no evidence to suggest it was him other than a well backed up hunch.

"I don't know but we'll find out." Nick gave three loud knocks on the cheap wooden door to Doug Ramses' apartment. Once he heard movement inside, he announced it was the police.  
"ZPD, open up." He said in a deep commanding voice.

A loud sigh could be heard from the other side of the door just before it swung open, revealing Doug standing there in nothing but a pair of boxers

"If it isn't officer Cottonball and lieutenant Fleabags. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Doug said sarcastically

"Ramses, I wish I could say it was a pleasure to meet you again, but you know… it just isn't." Nick said with a demeaning smile. Nick gestured for Doug to let them in and he stepped aside, holding his hoof out as if to point them in.

"What brings you two pelts here anyway?" Doug spat as he barged passed Nick and Judy into his living room. Nick's lip turned up slightly, just enough for Judy and nobody else to notice. She had learned to pick up on his subtle cues and quirks, which annoyed him because she could see right through some of his hustles now.

The state of the living room shocked Judy, the floor was barely visible, old takeaway boxes and wrappers covered the table and the smell was simply revolting.

"I'll get straight to it." Nick said sternly. "Where were you last night between 7:00PM and midnight?"

Judy had her notepad ready to take down anything that was said. A small yet smug smile crept across Doug's face, he dropped on to the couch sending up a plume of dust and crumbs.

"Let's see should we…" Doug said as he lit a cigarette with a match, taking more time than Flash would on a slow day. "From 7 till 9 I was in the Trolleyed Tortoise" then after that most. Hic. Most of the night is a bit of a blur." Doug kicked his foot hooves up onto the coffee table scattering the takeaway boxes across the floor.

"So I guess that means you don't have an alibi then?" Judy asked, looking up from her notebook with her head on a slight tilt.

"I guess you could say that. Where exactly was I supposed to be?" Doug asked calmly.

"Nowhere in particular. But I do hope that you were home for 10." Judy said with a nod towards Doug's ankle. He let out a huge sigh and just sat back in his chair. Staring up at the ceiling he said, "Why don't you go and have a look."

Judy clapped her notepad shut, "We'll be back" she said as she left the room with Nick following her.

Once they reached the buildings elevator and were sure that Doug couldn't hear them Judy spoke. "I didn't know Doug was on a tag."

"No, neither did I. We should go back to the precinct and check his movements, but how could it have been him if he's on a tag." Nick puzzled.

"There's always a chance it was somebody else, there are a lot of sheep in this city you know." Judy chirped just as the elevator doors opened revealing a full heard of sheep in the building's lobby, all of them moving towards the elevator.

"See." Judy had a slight hint of fear in her voice, being on the smaller side big crowds could prove quite troublesome for both of them, but more so for Judy.

"OK, OK, good point, but he knows something, I can feel it. Now let's go before we get stampeded to death." Nick grabbed Judy and they both slipped out of the elevator and followed the wall towards the front door.

* * *

The day shift was coming to an end, Judy was in the office waiting for Doug's tag Data to come through. Nick walked into the office and handed Judy her coffee. "any luck?"

Judy spun around on her chair and took the coffee, holding it with both paws. "Turns out there was an Issue with Doug's tag last night and It stopped sending a signal."

Nick sat on the desk beside her. "Interesting, but why the long face?"

"there was an officer sat outside of his building all night. So, either he didn't go anywhere, the officer wasn't watching, or... whoever it was, was in on it."

Nick's ears pricked up and a shiver went down his spine. "Doesn't it say who responded."

Judy shook her head "It's blank."

Nick paused to think for a moment. "Brian was on last night's shift." I'll ask him if he remembers anything. We need that DNA result back before we can go much further though."

"I sent it as priority, so we should get the results tomorrow." Judy said as she rubbed her eyes. It had been a long day and she was struggling to stay awake for the last hour of their shift.

"let's hope so." Nick dropped to his feet and leaned against the door frame.

After a few moments of comfortable silence Judy spoke. "Are you doing anything tonight?" She asked with a cute little smile.

"No, just straight home for me, hopefully not to that bitch sitting outside my apartment." Nick snarled slightly as he spoke.

"Is she still giving you trouble?" Judy said with a sympathetic look.

"I think she thinks that I'm taking the piss when I tell her to go." Nick chuckled at how ridiculous the situation with his ex was becoming. He had kicked Amber out almost a week ago, but she just wouldn't accept it. She had been waiting outside of his apartment for him to get home and when he did, she would try to force her way in or even worse, she would come onto him.

"So, let me get this straight. This vixen left you for another fox and now she won't leave you alone."

"Yep, that's about it." Nick dipped his head and was playing with his paws. Judy knew that this was a tough subject for Nick to talk about, but she could tell that he had more to say.

"And you're sure that's it?" Judy asked, stopping his paws with hers. Nick didn't answer, he just looked away.

"How do you fancy a quiet one in the pub?" She asked. Nick just smiled at her and gave a gentle nod. "I think that's the best idea you've had in a long-time Fluff."


	3. Chapter 3

Judy came over to the corner table in the bar just down from the precinct. The other cops used it, but thankfully it was quiet tonight. She sat 2 drinks down on the table before giving Nick's arm a squeeze and sitting on the chair beside his. Nick still had a distant, possibly even depressed look in his eye, it made Judy's heart ache seeing her partner, her friend in such a low way.

"Judy, I'm just going to come out with it because if I don't, I don't think I ever will." Nick said out of nowhere. Judy didn't know what to say, she just sat and listened.

"I, I don't know what to do Jude. She just won't go, and I'm scared of what she'll do if I don't take her back." Nick didn't make eye contact once, instead he stared down at the table, his face set in stone.

"What do you mean you're scared of what she'll do? Do you think she would... hurt herself?" Judy said sensitively. She knew how hard it was for Nick to open up about things and she didn't want to say the wrong thing. Nick shook his head with his eyes closed and a lump in his throat.

"Then what is it?" Judy soothed. She grabbed his paw with hers and rubbed it with her thumb. She had never seen Nick like this before, he was on the verge of tears and Judy didn't like it. She just wanted to hold him and make it all go away but she knew that wasn't going to help right now.

"I feel so stupid Judy... I'm a cop, I should be able to handle this." Nick huffed, he pulled his paw away from Judy and dropped his head into them.

A wave of sickness came over Judy as she realised what had been going on. "Is it what she might do to you that's bothering you." She said quietly, she didn't dare say any louder because she hoped to god that it wasn't true. That sickly feeling turned to one of pure emptiness when Nick nodded his head slowly and a tear rolled down his cheek.

"Oh Nicky, How long..."

"At least 6 months" He interrupted, his voice flat and to the point.

"You need to report this." Judy said, still in a state of shock and disbelief.

Nick let out a single, sharp laugh. "And who would believe me? She'd just say I was doing it out of spite."

"Is there no evidence." Judy was on the edge of breaking down, but she needed to hold it together for Nick.

"plenty" Nick lifted the side of his shirt revealing 3 deep scratches about 6 inches long, just below his ribs and a red patch of skin above his hip where the fur had been pulled out.  
"injuries from work, though aren't they?" He said sarcastically before shoving his shirt back down and downing half of his drink. The sadness and depression he had was turning into anger and there was nothing that could stop it.

"Do not take her back Nick, whatever you do. You of all mammals don't deserve this." Judy said cautiously, Nick's lip was twitching, and his hackles were up, although she knew he would never hurt her and she trusted him with her life, seeing him like that still scared her a little.

"Why don't I, I've been nothing but horrible to everybody for most of my life, I've shut my mother out and blamed her for my father disappearing, and now that we are back on good terms it's 50-50 whether she'll see Christmas or not. What have I done not to deserve this?" Nick asked sternly not expecting an answer, but Judy had one all lined up.

"You changed, you changed, and you put right your wrongs. You fixed things with your Mum while you still could and what about all the other mammals you've helped? I'm sure they would say you don't deserve this." Judy said, almost pleading with Nick, he was talking like it was his fault and it was anything but his fault.

"But I feel like I do Judy, I don't deserve to have a loving partner or wife, or to be happy, I feel like I should just be..." Nick trailed off realising what he was about to say had potential to either cause a lecture, an argument or at the very least make one very upset bunny.

"you feel you should be what Nick?" Judy's voice stayed soft but there was a hint of urgency behind it. She shifted in her seat so that her whole body faced him.

"Nothing, it's... nothing." Nick couldn't make himself look her in the eye.

"It clearly isn't nothing." Judy held her paws out waiting for an answer.

"Alright! I feel like I should just be put down. Like I should just disappear, god knows the world would be better for it." Nick almost shouted, his eyes suddenly staring straight through Judy

"Don't you ever think like that." Judy said sternly "Nicholas Wilde there are more mammals in this world that need you than you know."

"who? Who really needs me?" Nick screwed up his face. Judy felt her heart sinking even further, this vixen had actually made him believe this.

"Your Mum needs you, everyone at the precinct needs you. You've heard them saying that you bring a well needed lift to the place. Finnick needs you." Judy began almost pleading with him.

"Fuck Finnick." Nick spat. Judy just ignored it though.

"I need you." She said looking right at him. Nick looked right back at her and he looked terrified.

"you're my best friend and the only mammal in the world I would want at my back." Judy continued and for some reason that finally seemed to get through to him.

"I know Carrots. Everything's just getting a bit too much for me, and I can't face _her _again, but I can't see any other way out of this." Nick finished off his drink and was eyeing up Judy's.

"You don't have to, not tonight anyway. You're staying at mine tonight." Judy said sternly, drinking some of her drink.

"No, I'll be fine, I'll just go home." Nick said, shaking his head dismissively.

"I wasn't asking. You are staying with me." Judy downed her drink and stood up before he could argue.

"Same again?" she asked, waving her glass slightly. Nick nodded and anded his glass to her.

They spent the next few hours talking, drinking and eventually laughing and joking with each other like they normally would. They left the bar at about 10 PM after much protest from Nick who was. 'having too much fun to go to bed.' But Judy managed to drag him out and stick him in a taxi to her apartment. Of course, Nick fell asleep within seconds of sitting in the taxi as he always used to when he would go to the pub with Judy after work. That got her thinking again, almost exactly 6 months ago Nick and her suddenly stopped their after-work drinks and their 1st Saturday of the month movie night. At the time she didn't think any more of it than Amber, Nicks ex, wasn't too happy about it. It was a fair point, Judy wouldn't be thrilled if she had a buck that would go drinking and watching movies with a doe from work, but now she knew why it had actually stopped she was ashamed that she hadn't questioned it sooner.

The taxi pulled up outside Judy's building and she paid the driver before giving Nick a nudge "Oi sleepy, wake up."

Nick's eyes shot open and he cowered away from her with the most fearful look in his eyes she had ever seen.

"It's ok, it's me, it's Judy, you're ok." She said. She could see Nicks heart pounding in his chest, but once he realised it was Judy he came around and looked very embarrassed. He opened the door and quietly climbed out of the car, not stopping until he was inside.

"What has she done to you." Judy whispered under her breath before getting out herself and jogging to Nicks side. The walk up to Judy's apartment was a quiet one. Nick offered an apology for what happened in the car but got told never to apologise for that ever again and that Judy was sorry for making him feel like that. Once they reached the apartment Nick flopped on to the bed like he owned the place. He was still wearing his full uniform, tie and all.

"Are you going to at least give me a pillow?" Judy asked standing at the bottom of the bed. She fully intended to sleep on a blanket on the floor, but that was not happening without a pillow, and how was she supposed to put her night clothes on with Nick here.

"I'm getting changed. Don't look." She huffed as she started unbuttoning her uniform and placing it carefully on the back of her chair, before pulling on her favourite pyjamas. A short-sleeved top with the Hopps family farm logo on it and some short pink and white bottoms that just covered her bottom.

"Now then Mr, you are going to have to move over and I don't want to wake up with fox paws all over me." Judy said jokingly

"It's like you don't even know me." Nick replied from the pillow with a sly look on his face.

"I do, and that's why I'm saying it." Judy slid into the bed with her back to Nick and was asleep within moments of her head touching the pillow.

* * *

Judy's alarm woke her up, she reached over to her bedside table to silence it, but something held her back. After a little stretching she managed to reach the button and silence the thing. She relaxed again and only then noticed the comforting warmth behind her. She grabbed the paw draped around her stomach and let out a content sigh.

"what was the last thing I said to you last night?" Judy said as she turned around to face Nick. Her eyes widening when she saw him. "and when did you take your uniform off!" she squeaked. Nick was lying there in nothing but a pair of tight white boxers. It wasn't the first time she had woken up beside Nick. Before he was seeing amber it was almost a regular thing, after movie night or a few too many in the pub Nick would crash at Judy's because his apartment was all the way out near the climate wall with Tundratown. Judy still lived in her tiny apartment and it was freezing so although they both insisted on sleeping on the floor, it never actually happened, however they had always remained as close to fully clothed as possible.

"You wouldn't want me turning up to work all creased, now would you?" Nick said with the same sly smile he had the night before.

"Well no, I suppose not, and it can't have been very comfortable." Judy pushed herself away from him by gently shoving his chest. Over the last few months she had forgotten how soft his fur was, it was like a cloud hiding his well-toned physique under it. She paused there for a moment before spinning away and hopping out of the bed.

"I'm going for a shower, don't you be going through my stuff while I'm gone." Judy said as she hopped out of the door to go to the communal bathroom on her floor. Nick sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He grabbed his phone from the desk and his good mood was instantly wiped away when he looked at the 43 notifications he had. 2 were from his father acting like nothing had ever happened, another 6 from Muzzle book and the other 35 were from Amber. He didn't dare to open them. The last one was shown on the screen and it was all he needed to know. It read 'You know what happened last time you stayed with that bunny slut!' Nick flinched at the memory and wrapped his tail around himself, the fur hid it but there was a slight kink to it now after it had been slammed in his bedroom door about 3 months ago when Amber accused him of cheating with Judy.

Nick was taken by surprise when Judy returned, he was still sat staring at the notification bar of his phone. He glanced at the time, he'd been sat there staring at the screen for almost 15 minutes.

"Is everything ok?" Judy asked as she dried off one of her ears. Nick tossed his phone on the bed in her general direction without a word, he just sat and waited to hear what Judy had to say. She looked at the last notification but didn't want to go any further. "W-What happened last time?" Judy asked, not really sure she wanted to know.

Nick let his tail fall to the bed. "she slammed it on the door." He said with his head in his paws. He thought opening up to Judy about it might help, but so far it had only made him relive what Amber had and still was putting him through, but at least he now had somebody that he could trust that knew what was going on.

Judy wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tight. "go and get a shower while I get dressed. You'll get through this, and you can stay here whenever you want to."

"thanks Carrots, I'll be 10 minutes." Nick ruffled the top of her head before heading off to get a shower.

* * *

The work day started the same as it always did. Nick and Judy were first in the bullpen and there were no surprises, Bogo just told them to carry on with the Mrs Bengal case and to let him know of any developments. Nick went to make the coffee as he always did, and Judy went straight to the office to check her e-mails for the DNA results from the wool sample. After sifting through the usual trash about cake bakes and cars that needed to be moved in the car park, she found it. A touch of excitement and a little bit of anxiety had her ears standing straight up while the painfully slow ZPD computer opened the attachment.

"Is it in yet?" Nick said from the door, making Judy jump slightly. When she turned back to the computer screen one name Jumped out at her from the report. She scooted out of the way so that Nick could see it.

"This is bigger than we thought." Judy said hitting print on the report and taking off towards the printer down the corridor.


	4. Chapter 4

Judy grabbed the document from the printer and was about to sprint off to Bogo's office, but Nick stopped her.

"What are you doing? We need to tell the chief what we've found." Judy said to Nick, shocked that he had stopped her.

"We need to know who took the Ramses call first or He'll just fob us off." Nick got his phone out and started flicking through his contacts.

"Now what are you doing?" Judy said urgently wanting to progress the case. Nick stopped what he was doing with his phone and looked Judy in the eye for a moment. "Phoning Brian." He said flatly. Judy sighed and nodded her head, feeling a little stupid she calmed herself down. It was one of her biggest flaws, rushing things and getting carried away when they were on a bit of a roll or had new leads.

Nicks phone call was a short one. Brian told him that it was Lydia Hornbourgh, a deer officer who took Doug's call.

"well?" Judy said as soon as Nick hung up, she was practically bouncing on the spot.

"Lydia took it. We need to go to Bogo with this." Lydia was in Nicks class at the academy, she had almost been kicked out for the way she was towards Nick and the other predators, but she seemed to target Nick more than the others. He put it down to the fact that he was a fox, that was usually the reason for mammals to be jerks towards him.

"Do you think she's in on it or did she just mess up the form?" Judy asked, she was starting to see the holes in their case now.

"No, she's a perfectionist, any errors with paperwork are not accidents, let's see what Bogo says."

* * *

Nick knocked hard on Bogo's office door, stepping back so that he wouldn't get trodden on if Bogo came to the door. That was a mistake you only made once and Nick had learned that the hard way.

"Come in." Bogo said gruffly from inside the room.  
With a bit of a stretch Nick pulled the handle and pushed the door open, holding it for Judy to enter.

"Sir we need to talk about the Mrs Bengal case." Judy announced as she hopped up onto the over-size chair and plopped the case file on the desk in front of Bogo.

"Go on?" Bogo said, intrigued by it. He thought it was going to be a simple case but clearly not, Nick and Judy wouldn't be there if it was.

"We've had some DNA results back from the scene that link it to Woolter, one of the sheep from the nighthowler case." Judy handed the DNA report to Bogo before continuing. "We also visited Doug Ramses, the one who was making the serum. Turns out his tag malfunctioned on the night of the abduction."

"Yes, but surely an officer was sent to check on him." Bogo said, looking over his glasses.

Nick spoke from the side of the desk, his side was a bit sore to be climbing up onto buffalo chairs and didn't want to let Bogo see. "There was an officer sent out but there was no name on the file."

"That is odd, but I assume it was a simple mistake?" Bogo asked, as any mammal would.

"I don't think so sir, you see I rang Brian Jackson, the jaguar who was on that shift apparently it was Hornbourgh who took the call." Nick explained.

"I see, she never makes mistakes with paperwork." Bogo said. He sat thinking for a minute with Nick and Judy staring at him.  
"I don't want a word of this to leave this room. Do you understand?" Bogo said in an even more serious way than normal. Nick and Judy nodded in perfect synchronisation.

"Get yourselves a car from transport, I want you two on surveillance watching Woolter. So far, he's the only one we can pin to this. If what you are saying is correct and Hornbourgh is on the take, then we need stay under the radar until we have proof." Bogo looked to Nick and Judy making sure that they understood what he was saying.  
"I'll keep an eye on her, I'll watch where her cruiser goes and keep track of her shouts but for now focus on Woolter and getting Mrs Bengal back safe."

Nick nodded once to Bogo while Judy gave a respectful "Sir" before they both headed to the door.

"Not a word... to anyone." Bogo repeated Just before Nick opened the door. Nick gave a quick salute accompanied with a sly smile and slipped out of the office door with a flick of his tail.

* * *

Nick was like a kit in a sweet shop all the way to the garage and he was even worse when they got there. He ran in to the garage and was pouncing from car to car, excitedly looking through all of the windows.

"We need something inconspicuous but fast." Judy said as she walked down the middle of the garage.  
"Nick... No." She shouted when she turned around to see him staring through the window of a black Nissan GT-R that had just finished getting kitted out for catching speeders and street racers. "Inconspicuous Nick… Inconspicuous."

"It's fast though." He replied with a sly smile, practically drooling over the car.

"Come on." Judy dragged him away using his tie as a lead.

"Judy, what have I told you about doing that in public." Nick said with his eyes low and an even slyer grin on his face.

"I thought you just meant the leather one." Judy said, she shrugged her shoulders and had to hold back a laugh when she saw how red Nicks ears had become.

"You miss, are a bad bunny. Now let's pick an 'Inconspicuous' AKA boring car." Nick said sarcastically, earning him a punch in the arm. There was a grey ford mustang about 3 from the end, Judy headed over to take a look, but Nick was screwing his face up looking at it.

"What's wrong with this one?" Judy asked. Pouting at him with her paws on her hips.

"Well it's clearly a cop car. Look at it, you can even see the lights in the grill." Nick stood back gesturing to the car with a paw.

"What about that one then." Judy pointed towards a blue BMW M3 parked on the other side of the garage, mostly hidden by a huge cruiser.

"Well it definitely doesn't look like a cop car." Nick said, sprinting over to it. "It's the right size as well." he was getting giddy again. "Judy we're having this one." Nick was hopping from foot to foot now.

"OK, OK, I'll go talk to Kevin." Kevin was the mammal in charge of transport, he was a brown bear that didn't hold back what he was thinking. Judy always said that somebody had took out his mental filter.

"Kevin!" Judy called from the office door.

"Huh, yeah, who is it?" Kevin came out from the back room rubbing his eyes. Obviously just waking up from what looked like a very deep sleep.

"Bloody hell Kevin the doors open, and the office doors unlocked, anyone could have walked in here." Judy said, shaking her head.

"I don't know what you're talking about Hopps. What brings you here today?" Kevin sat in the chair behind his desk and lifted his feet up onto it.

"We need the keys for the blue M3." She said flatly, her ears falling when she saw the look on his face.

"what for?" Kevin asked suspiciously.

"Just a case we're working, the chief sent us."

"It has to be the BMW?" Kevin asked, starting right through Judy's soul.

"I think Nicks in love." She replied, leaning on the door frame.

"fine." Kevin groaned. "Don't hurt her." Kevin opened the key-press where all of the ZPD vehicle keys were kept and tossed the BMW keys over to Judy.

"Thanks Kevin." Judy hopped back over to Nick and unlocked the car. Just as they were getting in, they heard Kevin shouting over to them.  
"Wilde, if there's so much as a scratch on that car I'll turn you into a hat."

"you'll need more than one fox to cover that head mate." Nick shouted back before shutting the door and wheel spinning out of the garage, leaving 2 nice black lines on the polished floor and one very angry bear in the garage.

Once they were on the move Judy opened the case on the car's computer.  
"So, the address we have on file for Woolter is 312 Westward Avenue in the Rain-forest district. there's a car park outside his building and luckily for us his apartment faces it." Judy read from the file.

"Lovely, more rain. I think you'll owe me a drink after this." Nick said as he swung the car around and headed to the climate wall.

"I think you'll owe me one after this driving." Judy shot back, clutching at the grab handle above her door.

* * *

Pulling up to Woolter's building, Nick was not surprised by the state of the place. It had vines growing up the side of it and more than its share of boarded up windows. The gloom brought by the inevitable rain didn't help much, both with how the place looked and Nick's mood.  
"I hope we don't have to get out of the car." He moaned from the driver's seat.

"So do I, its miserable even for the rain forest." Judy said, looking up into the sky.

"Right then, which windows are we watching?" Nick asked, he had his binoculars out and was peering through the windows that had lights on. It wasn't particularly late, but the tree canopy coupled with the rain meant that the rain forest district was always dull.

"so it's the 3rd floor, 2nd apartment from the left." Judy put the file down and joined Nick in looking for the apartment.

"looks like he's out." Nick said after a few minutes of watching.

"Yeah it does. All the lights are off and there's no sign of life inside." Judy confirmed.

"4th floor 6th window." Nick giggled.

"Not this again." Judy said but she still had a look. "Nicholas!" she punched him in the arm. There was a massively overweight, male pig sat in nothing but underwear and flip-flops eating some sort of potato chips. The sight made Judy feel a little sick, but the game had begun, and it was her turn.

"2nd floor 2nd window." Judy said after another minute or so of searching the building.

"On second thoughts, I might want to get out of here after all." Nick said with raised eyebrows behind his binoculars. Judy had found a silver fox vixen doing yoga in front of an open window.

"don't you feel like we are abusing our power when we play this?" Nick asked.

"Yes, yes I do. However, we need to make sure we have the right windows don't we." Judy said with an evil grin plastered on her muzzle.

"My evil ways are starting to rub off on you miss Hopps." Nick said with a hint of pride.

"I'd rather you didn't rub off on me to be honest Nick." Judy chirped.

"bad bunny." Was all Nick replied with, and it almost earned him another punch in the arm but something stopped her this time. Judy had caught Nick's face flinching in preparation of her playful punch, and it sent her mind back to the conversation they had had last night. It just felt wrong to hit him, no matter how playful it was.

The next half hour was passed in a slightly awkward silence with Judy watching the building and Nick watching the car-park. A set of headlights almost blinded him when they pulled in. They belonged to a black van, but he couldn't make out the driver. Nick nudged Judy "A van's just pulled in."

Judy lowered her binoculars and looked across the car-park. "That's him." She reached for the camera and snapped a few photos of Woolter getting out of the van and then another of him entering the building.

"what do we do now?" Nick asked. He was getting restless and was hoping for a bit of action.

"We wait." Judy had the camera zoomed in on Woolter's apartment window, ready to snap him when he appeared. Minutes later the light came on and there he was. The ram dropped his coat over the back of a chair and walked over to the window, setting Nick on edge. He was always nervous about being seen while undercover and him and Judy stood out when they were together. Foxes and rabbits don't normally mix, never mind sit in a car together for hours on end. Woolter's next move was to answer his phone. The conversation looked heated and he was soon grabbing his coat again and storming out of the room.

"where's he going?" Judy asked quietly. They didn't have to wait long before Woolter was running across the car-park and jumping back into his van.

"Let him get out of the car-park then follow him." Judy said to Nick who was already starting the engine and getting himself revved up for a bit of action.

They followed the van onto the highway and towards Tundra-town, hanging back by about 4 cars but always keeping the van in sight. As they reached the climate wall there was only one car between Woolter and Nick and Judy. They entered the tunnel through the wall, Nick was fighting the temptation to put his foot down to hear the car at full throttle, it was a waste of a good tunnel. The tunnel had a curve in the muddle, as they turned the corner Woolter disappeared, seemingly into thin air.

"Where the hell did he go?" Nick asked, seriously confused. He didn't know of any service tunnels or escape roads that lead to or from this particular tunnel, but somehow Woolter's van had vanished. Nick put his foot down and the engine roared, echoing around the tunnel making his fur stand on end. they sped out of the tunnel hoping that Woolter had done the same but there was no sign of him.

"I'm turning around, there must be another road in there somewhere." Nick said, spinning the car around in a break in the central reservation.

"How? There's nothing on any maps that I've ever seen." Judy found the climate walls and how they worked fascinating and she had spent many hours studying them.

"I guess we'll see." Nick set off back down the tunnel, both of them carefully searching the tunnel walls for any sign of a turn off. Just before they reached the corner Judy shouted up.  
"There, look." She pointed at a roller door that was fully closed but had power to it.

"good spot Judy, I wonder where it goes." Nick pulled up beside it while Judy hopped out to open the door. She stretched up and pressed the button. The motor whirred to life and the door creaked its way up revealing an old service road through the climate wall.

"We should call dispatch and tell them where we are going." Judy said as she climbed nervously back into their car. Things like this didn't normally faze her, but she knew just how dangerous these mammals could be, after all if it wasn't for Nicks quick thinking in the museum these same mammals would have killed her and most likely Nick as well when they last met.

"We can't, Bogo's orders remember? Not a word to anyone." Nick said, feeling a little uneasy himself. They were heading into a part of the city that nobody really knew existed and Bogo was the only one who knew what case they were working.

"Well we can't just sit here all day." Judy fastened her seat belt and Nick slowly drove the car into the service tunnel, disappearing through a cloud caused by a steam leak.


	5. Chapter 5

The tunnel stretched for miles, all of it an uneasy balance between silence and the hisses and bangs of the various services running through it. The mist from steam leaks coupled with the dim light of the emergency lighting only adding to the eerie, uneasy feeling of the place.

"Judy, look." Nick whispered. 2 lights were blinking through the mist like glowing orange eyes, but as they got closer the red tail lights of Woolter's van came into view.

"I don't like this... somethings wrong." Judy shifted in her seat and pulled out her tranquilliser to check her darts, She put it back in its holster and unbuttoned the holster for her lethal weapon.

"I don't think there'll be any need for that Carrots." Nick said, a little shocked that she was already willing to use her gun. Judy was dead set against using her gun and would only pull it as a last resort. She felt that pointing a gun at someone did nothing to cool the situation and would normally result in it getting used and since Nick had joined her as partner, she had only drawn her gun once and had never fired it.

"I'm not taking any chances with these mammals Nick, look at what they did to us, to you, last time. I'm not going to risk that again." Judy had a glint of a tear in her eye. That night in the museum had affected her a lot more than she had ever let on, but working with her every day and spending a lot of time with her out of work meant that Nick had picked up on her little habits. Especially how uneasy she was around the woollier citizens of Zootopia.

They were still creeping the car up behind the van until Nick suddenly stopped.  
"The doors are open." He announced, focusing in on the open van door. A pool had formed, glistening in the low light just under the door opening.  
"You might need that gun after all. Go easy and stay behind me." Nick said, slowly opening the car door and climbing out without taking his eyes off the van. He took a glance over to where he thought Judy would be. Not seeing her he looked around, a moment of panic setting his heart racing and sending his paw to his gun.

"Judy." He whispered. Jumping when her paw touched his back to let him know that she was right behind him.

"So, you took that literally then." Nick said gulping down his fear and edging his way towards the van. Judy's ears were twitching back and forth like radar dishes, but she couldn't hear anybody. Nick's paw flicked out flat, signalling for them to stop.

"There's someone in the driver's seat." He whispered to Judy before standing tall with his gun aimed directly at where the mammal would be if they decided to look back. "ZPD don't move." He ordered. There was no movement from the van, so they walked up to the door, both with their weapons drawn and aimed at it the whole time.

"Shit, shit, shit, Judy get an ambulance here right now." Nick shouted, springing into the van. Woolter was slouched in the driver's seat with 3 bullet holes in his chest and blood pouring out of him. Nick grabbed his hoof and checked for a pulse...

Judy had sprinted back to the M3 and was desperately trying to reach Clawhouser, but the signal was weak through the climate wall.

Nick couldn't find a pulse in Woolter's arm, so he checked for breathing and his Neck for a pulse but there was nothing. He slid out of the van and could hear that Judy had got through to Clawhouser, an ambulance and backup were on the way. He walked round to the back of the van searching the floor with his flashlight and cracked the back door, slowly swinging it open.

A metallic ringing made Judy's head flick towards Nick, he was standing in the open back door of the van, his flashlight rolling on the ground beside him. She ran over to him, gasping when she saw the van, her legs almost gave way at the sight of it. Claw marks of all different sizes in the ply lining with tufts of different coloured fur caught on almost every splinter and sharp edge, blood stains scattered over the floor, walls and roof.

"It's happening again isn't it." Judy said quietly.

Nick could only nod in return, he couldn't bring himself to speak. His paw slowly raised, and he passed a piece of torn paper to Judy.

She took it from him and began to read it.

* * *

**_This is only the beginning and you won't stop us this time Hopps._**

**_We've got a special surprise planned for you and unless you want to find out what it is I suggest you back off!_**

**_Stop investigating us and all of this will go away, if not, the tiger won't be the only mammal to disappear._**

* * *

After a minute of digesting what she had just read Judy found her voice again. "What does this mean?" she asked.

"It means we need to find them before we find out what this special surprise is." Nick said without emotion, staring straight ahead.

The blue lights of the ambulance and a ZPD cruiser with it's siren blaring cut through the mist in the tunnel, Judy just leant against Nick and waited for them to arrive. "Do we tell Bogo about the note?"

"I think we have to." Nick said, knowing exactly what Judy was thinking

"He'll take us off the case." Judy said, confirming Nick's fears and deflating a little. Nobody liked having a case taken from them, especially one as juicy as this.

"He'll _try_ to take us off the case." Nick smiled down at Judy who looked back up and shook her head.

* * *

The paramedics hauled Woolter's body out of the van and into the back of the ambulance, there was nothing they could do to save him, one off the bullets had gone straight through his heart and he was dead before even Nick and Judy arrived.

The other officers that turned up were Wolford and Fangmeyer, much to Judy's disappointment. Nick had taken Wolford to the back of the van to show him the scene, leaving Judy with Fangmeyer. There wasn't a lot of conversation and Judy found herself watching Nicks tail swishing, it's hypnotic swaying almost putting her in a trance.

"Why don't you just ask him out already?" Fangmeyer said with a sly smile on her face.

"What? Nick? No!" Judy looked up to Fangmeyer, her back straight and ears pointed up.

"Oh, come on _Carrots _or is it _Fluff _now?" Fangmeyer was grinning from ear to ear, knowing full well that it would get a reaction out of Judy.

"Nobody else calls me that!" Judy growled, her nose twitching and her paws clenching in annoyance. Nicks nicknames for her were fine when it was him saying it, but it was a line everybody else knew not to cross.

"So why is Nick allowed to then if you're just friends? Everybody knows you like him, the way you get all giddy around him hasn't gone unnoticed and god knows what goes on in that little office of yours." Fangmeyer teased.

"I do not get giddy, even if I did like him it couldn't happen. He's a fox and I'm a bunny." A slight hint of sadness crept its way in under her anger and annoyance.

"stranger things have happened." Fangmeyer shrugged her shoulders and smirked as she saw Nick and Wolford walking over.

"Come on Carrots, we need to get to Bogo." Nick chirped as he got closer.

"Don't call me that." Judy snapped before storming to the car and slamming the door behind her.

Nick shrugged to Wolford and got in the driver's seat. Once they were on their way out of the tunnel Nick found a little courage and spoke up.

"Care to explain what that was about... Judith." He said sarcastically. She never took the hump with him and he was actually quite upset that she had, especially without knowing why.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap. It's just Fangmeyer getting under my fur again." Judy sighed, placing her paw on top of Nick's on the gear stick and gently squeezing it. Butterflies filling her stomach when she lingered there for a moment and he brushed her paw with his thumb. She quickly pulled her paw away, not sure if it was Fangmeyer in her head or if her heart had just skipped a beat.

"Let's just get back to the precinct and see what Bogo has to say." She said nervously.

The rest of the car ride was quiet, and Judy felt awkward, but Nick didn't seem phased at all, tormenting her further. 'Dam that tiger, getting into my head. It's only Nick' She told herself. She needed to calm down before seeing Bogo. She did, but not until they were walking up precinct 1 steps. That calm was shattered as soon as they pushed the door open.

"Hopps! Wilde! Office NOW!" Bogo's voice boomed around the precinct, every mammal turned to look at him except Nick and Judy, they looked at each other with exactly the same 'Oh crap' expression on their faces.


	6. Chapter 6

Bogo waited for Nick and Judy to sit down before he started but it was obvious that he was barely holding it in. "The very last thing I said to you before you left this office was, Not a word… TO ANYONE!" Bogo's hooves slammed into his desk, shaking everything on it and straightening Nick and Judy's backs.

"Sir, a mammal had been shot." Judy explained respectfully.

"A mammal had been shot." Bogo copied quietly with a shake of his head.  
"Mammals get shot every day in this hole of a city." He threw himself back in his chair and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Judy just sat opposite him with her nose twitching while Nick tried to quash a retaliation. They were both in this together and although they were in the right, he wasn't going to make things worse by opening his mouth.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't give this case to Wolford and Fangmeyer." Bogo hissed through his teeth. Nick couldn't hold his tongue at that.

"Because Wolford's a tit, and Fangmeyer's just… well Fangmeyer." Nick huffed, looking at Bogo like a rebellious high school student that had been sent to the head master.

"Wilde, you're not helping here." Bogo huffed.

"Sir, this was left this at the scene." Judy slid the note that Nick found in the front of Woolter's van over the desk for Bogo. He snatched it off the table, it looked tiny in his hooves. He pushed up his glasses with his free hoof and took a moment to read the note.

"Whoever it is already knew that we were following them." Judy said before Bogo could continue.

Bogo pulled off his glasses and slipped them into his top pocket. "Hopps, this note would be enough for me to take this case off you two even if it was an everyday break in."

"But Sir…" Judy started, but Nick's paw on her arm and Bogo's hoof in the air stopped her.

"But this isn't your everyday break in is it? And I'm not sure the others would be able to solve this as quickly as you two." Bogo let out a sigh. "Now both of you get out of here before I change my mind."

"thank you sir, we won't let you down." Judy gave a quick salute before hopping down off the chair and heading for the door, Nick followed, opening the door so that Judy didn't need to jump.

"We will bring them in chief." Nick promised before he walked out.

"I know you will Wilde." Bogo said, Nick couldn't tell if he was being kind or if it was aa threat, he decided that it sounded like a threat and scarpered before Bogo did change his mind.

* * *

After filing what seemed like an endless amount of paperwork, Nick and Judy headed out to the ZPD parking lot, one of the perks to having an undercover car was that they got to take it home. Before they had chance to get in Clawhouser called to them from the back door of the precinct.

"Judy... Nick..." he called, resting his paws on his knees to catch his breath.

"What's up Ben." Judy replied with a confused look.

"Are you two coming to the ZPD party on Sunday?"

Nick and Judy looked at each other and shrugged.

"What party?" Nick asked, neither of them had heard anything about it.

"It's in the new club on the strip in Sahara Square, 5:00PM Sunday. You can bring a friend or partner if you want. It's been on the notice board for weeks." Clawhouser was just getting his breath back when he finished talking.

"OK thanks Ben, we'll be there." Judy shouted over before disappearing into the driver's seat of their car.

"I thought I was driving." Nick moaned as he got in and closed the door.

"Was driving... was... now I'm driving." Judy smiled slyly at him before revving the engine and rolling out of the car park.

"You see, this is why I should drive, you just don't appreciate what a car can do." Nick said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Judy looked at him, grinned, and then lowered her brow before turning her attention back to the road. She waited for Nick to open his muzzle again. Just as he did, she dropped a gear and buried her foot into the floor, wheel spinning the BMW down the highway towards Nicks apartment.

* * *

"So what are your plans tonight Slick?" Judy asked when she pulled up outside Nicks apartment building.

"I'll be going to see my Mum tonight she's still in hospital, but they've said she will be home in a day or two." Nick's ears dropped and he seemed to shrink a little.

"Tell her I'm thinking of her." Judy said with a reassuring squeeze of Nick's paw.

"I will Carrots, what are you up to?"

"Well you know, rattling around in my huge apartment. Getting verbally abused by my neighbours. I have a thrilling evening planned." Judy joked, bringing the smile back to Nick's face.

"you could always come with me? My Mum is always asking about you… She really likes you." Nick said, hoping that Judy would take the hint and go with him.

"No, I couldn't, it's not my place." Judy said nervously. Really wanting to just shout yes and drive off.

"Come on, I'll buy you one of them posh coffees and a slice of that carrot cake you love from the hospital cafe." Nick baited her, knowing that she couldn't refuse a slice of the hospitals cake.

"You know it's not a good sign that we know the hospital's menu." Judy said, smiling to herself as she put the car back in gear.

"I'll take that as a yes then." Nick said, not even trying to hide how happy he was.

"I guess so, but I want the biggest slice of carrot cake they have."

"Of course you do Carrots." Nick chuckled to himself

* * *

The next few days had been fairly uneventful for Nick and Judy, both in and out of work. Amber was still texting Nick like nothing had happened but he had learned to just ignore it. They had been watching Doug Ramses from their unmarked car but nothing out of the ordinary had happened, not until this morning's brief anyway. Judy hopped up onto the chair beside Nick and they waited for Bogo to come in. The door flew open, but instead of Bogo it was Clawhouser.

"There's a Tiger outside, she's attacking everyone. Chiefs out there now he needs help." Ben shouted into the room before running back out to do what he could to help.

Judy sprung over the table and was first out of the room with Nick close on her tail. She pulled out her tranq gun and sprinted towards the front doors of precinct 1. Bogo was stood with his back to a wall, his arm bleeding badly and with nothing to defend himself. Normally taking down a tigress would be no problem for the buffalo, but something was very wrong. Nick scanned the area, there was no sign off the tiger anywhere, Just a scene from a nightmare. There must have been a dozen mammals injured, some of them didn't look like they would make it.

Judy slowly stepped towards the chief with her tranquilliser drawn ready to fire at any moment. Nick grabbed her arm to stop her, his other paw pointed towards an alley on the other side of the square. 2 eyes and a set of snarling teeth stared back at them. The tiger took a step out into the light.

"Its her... Its Mrs Bengal." Nick whispered. Aiming his tranq gun at the tiger, but Judy lowered it with her paw.

"what are you doing." Nick hissed through his teeth quietly.

"she's too far away, these guns will never reach that far. You'll only make her angry." Judy said, she was terrified and didn't know how to handle this.

Nick lowered his weapon and crouched down slowly Mrs Bengal snarling as he did.  
"I'll draw her to the fountain you shoot her with the tranquilliser." Nick said, nodding his head slowly.

"No! You can't… she'll kill you if I miss." Judy said in shock. She couldn't let Nick go ahead with this.  
"There must be another way." She pleaded.

"Just… Don't miss." Nick stroked her cheek before stalking his way over to the fountain at the bottom of the ZPD steps. Mrs Bengal was watching every step he took, but she wouldn't come out from her hiding place. Nick started to slowly edge his way towards her, his heart beating so fast he could feel his head throbbing. The tigress finally crept out from the shadows, her tail whipping at the air as she started to circle Nick. He took one look back to check his distance from the fountain, it was only 20 yards or so but more than enough for Mrs Bengal to catch him, so he started to back up, but when he looked back around, he couldn't see the tiger. The next thing he knew he was skidding across the ground face first. Nick looked up, he was dazed and his vision slightly blurry, Mrs Bengal was still prowling, but this time she was a lot closer and between him and where he needed to be.

Judy fought the urge to run in. Nick probably had a plan and she knew that if she got hurt Nick would only put himself in more danger to save her, so she stayed put, her heart thumping and her nose twitching. Judy aimed the tranquilliser at Mrs Bengal, but she was still too far away and Judy's paws were shaking.

"Shit." Nick said under his breath, his eyes darting around looking for a way around the tiger. There was one option, but it was risky, he would have to wait for her to attack again and somehow get around her. He didn't have any time to plan his next move because with a scratch on the paved square Mrs Bengal lurched towards him all teeth and claws. His instincts took over and he slid under her and ran on all fours towards the fountain. Her massive paw knocking him off balance when it struck his hip, her claws ripping his skin as she tried to drag him back. Nick hit the low wall around the fountain with almost enough force to knock a chunk of it over, still on four legs he limped around the wall, so that Judy had a clearer shot. Nick pushed his back up against the wall of the fountain with a pained groan, his heart stopped when he heard the tiger snarl and Nick didn't dare to open his eyes. He was flattened to the ground, no matter how hard he tried he couldn't free himself.

"Nick! Nick, are you ok?" Judy's muffled voice made its way to him. She must have made the shot, he was still alive. "Don't just stand there, give me a paw!" Judy shouted.

A bright light seared Nick's eyes before giving way to the fuzzy grey outline of Judy's ears and the plump figure of Clawhouser standing behind her.

"Ugh, talk about cutting it fine Carrots." Nick said, wincing when he tried to sit up.

"I couldn't let you die, who would I go the party with on Sunday." She said jokingly, offering her paw to help Nick sit up.

"I thought you'd never ask." Nick said, followed by a grunt as he bent his hip to sit up.

"Wilde!" Bogo's voice boomed across the square. "That is perhaps the most reckless, foolish and downright stupid thing you have ever done."

Nick's ears dropped to the side of his head and he gazed down at the ground.

"But…" Bogo said, putting his hooves on his hips. "I do believe that I owe you my life, so, thank you. I don't know how I can repay that." Bogo's voice almost cracked but his hard exterior was soon back up.

"Well you could start by not firing me for this." Nick said happily, smiling up at the chief.

"Don't you worry Wilde, I'll find another reason." Bogo patted Nicks shoulder and turned to the rest of the officers who had come out.

"Come on you lot, Wolford, get that tiger secure and somebody get some bloody ambulances down here now! If you're not helping drop your badge on my desk and get out of my sight." The chief stormed up the ZPD steps pushing a ram officer that was standing slack jawed in front of the door out of his way.


	7. Chapter 7

The hospital was a scene of barely organised chaos when Judy got there. 16 mammals had been admitted from the scene at precinct 1, 5 of them with life threatening injuries and anther 6 requiring major surgery. Bogo had got himself to hospital and had been seen to, he only needed a few stitches in his arm and was sat in the waiting room when Judy got there. Nick had been whisked away in an ambulance, his injuries weren't that serious, but he had suffered a concussion and needed a lot of stitches in his hip, so the paramedics took him to get checked over in hospital.

Judy jogged into the emergency room and was working her way to the desk, the crowd of patients, staff and reporters made the journey difficult to say the least.

"Hopps, Over here." Bogo shouted to her, waving his hoof in the air. After fighting through more mammals Judy popped out of the crowd and made her way to Bogo.

"I didn't think reporters were allowed in here." Judy said, straightening herself out.

"They're not. But what can the two of us do about it? Everyone else is busy either holding the fort at the precinct or getting the prey superiority activists under control."

"They're on this already?" Judy said in annoyance. Just when she thought that the city was getting along something had to go and ruin it.

"Anyway, I assume you're here for Nick? He's on ward 4, and he's in for the night." Bogo said with a hoof on Judy's shoulder. "Don't worry he's fine, they just want to keep an eye on him over night is all." He said seeing the panic in her face.

"Thanks chief, I'll come straight back to the precinct once I'm done here." Judy said as she started to jog away.

"You will not! Go home Hopps... you've earned it." Bogo said with a rare smile.

* * *

Judy knocked on the open door to Nick's room and leant on the door frame. Nick was staring up at the ceiling, lost in a world of his own.

"Ahem." Judy knocked harder on the door and Nick's eyes shot over to her.

"Oh, hi Judy. Sorry I was just thinking." Nick said, inviting her over with his paw.

"What have I told you about that, you'll hurt yourself." Judy said as she sat on the edge of his bed. Nick shook his head, laughing at her but trying not to move too much. His whole body felt like he had been trampled by an elephant.

"Judy… They phoned Amber…" Nick announced flatly, taking Judy by surprise.

"They did what? Why?" Judy's face scrunched up in confusion. Dealing with Amber would just add to an already terrible morning.

"She's still down as my third emergency contact." Nick sighed.

"Third? Who's second?" Judy asked, thinking that his mother was obviously first.

"Well my Mums second." Nick said with a sly smile on his face.

"Well whose first then?" Judy asked, completely oblivious to the fact that it was obviously her. Nick raised an eyebrow at her and made a silly '_think Judy'_ face.

Judy snorted and gently shoved him. "You put me as your first contact." She was both surprised and pleased at the same time. She had Nick as hers but who else would she put, her parents were in Bunny Burrow and she didn't exactly have a lot of friends in the city when Nick joined the ZPD, but Nick could have picked anybody.

"Yeah you, who else would I put?" Nick said, freezing as soon as he stopped speaking. Judy followed his eyes over to the door and Amber standing in it, arms folded and tail flicking the air.

"What is _she _doing here." Amber hissed pointing her muzzle at Judy.

"What are you doing here more like." Judy jumped off the bed and stared straight through Amber, all of her hatred for her coming to the surface. She could barely control herself.

"_I'm _here to see _my _boyfriend..." Amber said pointing a finger into her chest. Nick looked away, he didn't need this right now, and he still didn't feel he could talk to her after what she had put him through.

"You can't control him anymore. He doesn't need you, he doesn't want, who would?" Judy looked Amber up and down like a tramp. It did not go down well with the vixen, her lips curled up and her tail fuzzed behind her.

"I think it's about time the vermin left." Amber snarled at Judy as she walked into the room. She tried to push past Judy, but the bunny didn't move. "Get out of my way." Amber said, looking down on Judy like she was nothing.

"I thought you said the vermin was leaving." Judy looked up to Amber with a cheeky grin on her face.

"You little bitch." Amber gasped raising her paw, ready to back-paw Judy.

"Just give me one excuse, taking you in would make my year." Judy growled up at amber with her right paw on her pawcuffs.

"I wouldn't give you the satisfaction." Amber lowered her paw and spun away from Judy. She walkout out of the room, sticking her head back in before she could leave. "Nick sweetie, I'll be in touch."

"One more message and I'll have you for harassment." Judy called after Amber, but it was wasted on her, she just walked off like nothing had happened.

"I'm sorry Judy, you shouldn't have to deal with that." Nick was still looking away with his ears flat to his head. He felt small, like he was helpless and if Judy hadn't been there, he wouldn't have been able to get rid of Amber. He didn't like Judy fighting his battles for him, it just wasn't his way, but this was different because in his head Nick had already lost.

"You've got nothing to be sorry for. I can stay here if you want? Bogo's given me the day off and I'm sure the chaos will still need clearing up tomorrow." Judy said as she plonked herself back down on the edge of Nicks bed.

"You don't have to do that." Nick said, smiling stupidly at her.

"tell your face that. I'm going to get a coffee do you want anything?" Judy asked, standing once again.

"A hot chocolate and a blueberry muffin might just fix me up." Nick said, smiling slyly at her, but Judy could have sworn that she saw something different in his eyes. It might just be the pain meds or stress with everything that has gone on, but there was something there.

"Erm Judy?." Nick's voice brought her back out of her thoughts.

"yeah? Oh sorry, I'll be right back." Judy blushed, turning as red as a tomato. She rushed out of the room and headed down the hall, telling herself off in her head as she walked. Navigating the maze that was Zootopia general hospital had been difficult at first, however after all the witnesses and suspects they had been here to interview, not to mention the amount of time they had spent here themselves they both knew the place like the back of their paws.

The cafe was on the ground floor, 3 floors down from Nick's room so Judy decided to take the lift even though it would probably be quicker, and a lot less deadly to take the stairs. The lifts in this end of the hospital were ancient and the noises they made didn't exactly fill you with much confidence. The carriage arrived and the doors squeaked open. Judy stepped in and pressed the ground floor button. The door closed with a clank when they met in the middle and the elevator jerked into motion.

After what felt like an eternity of creaking and groaning the doors finally opened on the ground floor. The cafe was almost right beside the elevators and thankfully it was quiet. Judy ordered the chocolate and muffin for Nick and got herself a coffee and a carrot cake as always. Just as she paid for them her phone beeped, it was a message from Clawhouser.

'Judes, just letting you know that we've moved the party to next Saturday and that Bogo wants you to do a press conference tomorrow. He said that Nick should do it with you if he's up to it. How is the sly old fox anyway?'

Judy tapped out a reply... 'ooh press conferences, my favourite! Good idea to move the party btw. Nick's fine, and there is no way he's getting out of this conference!'

Judy gathered up the drinks and snacks, thanked the cashier and made her way back up to Nicks room taking her life in her paws with the elevator again.

"They really need to do something about those lifts." She said as she pushed Nicks door open with her shoulder. But when she looked over Nick was fast asleep. Judy sat in the chair beside his bed and was about to wake him when her phone chimed again, although this time it wasn't Clawhouser. In fact, it was an unknown number. Judy would normally just ignore it but for some reason she opened the message.

'I hope Mrs Bengal found you in good health?'

Judy's heart was pounding. She just stared at the message racking her brain trying to think who it was and how they could have her number. she didn't even notice that Nick had woken up.

"Who is it Carrots?" He asked sleepily.

"I-I don't know." Judy showed Nick the message. They both sat in silence, neither knowing what to do next.


	8. Chapter 8

Judy was pacing back and forth nervously. Stopping would mean wearing a hole in the floor with her foot tapping. She saw the chief preparing for his speech at the back of the lobby, Clawhouser whispered something in his ear and he immediately set off towards the front door. "Chief, I need a word after this." Judy said to chief Bogo when he walked passed her on his way to the podium that had been set up at the top of the ZPD front steps.

"Ok Hopps." Bogo gently squeezed her shoulder and made his way up to the podium. The square was packed, journalists and spectators had piled in from all over the city and some from even further afield. Looking out over the sea of faces was already making Judy's stomach turn. She didn't have the best history with press conferences but at least this time she would have Nick up there with her, even if she had to drag him up by his tail.

Bogo's speech seemed to be over in a flash, he outlined what had happened yesterday and reiterated that the city was safe, and that unity was what kept it that way. He finished by introducing Nick and Judy, commending them for what they had done yesterday and saying that he along with many others owe their life to them.

Nick and Judy joined the applause for their chief before heading up for their turn in the spotlight. Nick's stitches and the impact yesterday made walking a little tricky, so Judy helped him up as best as she could. Cameras flashed around the square when they saw Judy helping Nick up to the podium, each reporter wanting their shot to make the front page.

Before they could get themselves ready the questions came flooding in, Judy picked out a reporter at random and pointed to him.

"Is this a return of the nighthowlers?"

Judy was expecting this and had got an answer all lined up.  
"We are exploring every possible line of enquiry for the incident and we did find traces of the so called nighthowler chemical in the Tigers system, however this is believed to be an isolated incident."

Another reporter shouted up from almost the front row.  
"Officer Wilde… What made you take on the tiger alone, and are the reports of you going savage yourself true?"

The question took them by surprise, this was the first they had heard of the rumour and needed to quash it immediately.

Nick took the question. "First of all, I would like to dispel any rumour that I went savage, this is simply not true. As we all know, mammals do not just go savage. As for why I took the tiger on alone, I saw that mammals were in danger and that the chief was injured. I knew that I had to do something, but I should not take the credit for bringing down the Tiger as it was officer Hopps who actually took the shot. If it wasn't for her, I probably wouldn't be here talking to you now." Nick finished with a friendly smile at Judy which led to another burst of camera flashes.

"A source has informed us that you two are having an affair, is there any truth in these allegations?"

Judy's head snapped in the direction that the question came from, her ears standing straight up while Nick looked for Wolford and Fangmeyer so he knew which direction to hobble angrily when this was finished.

"Are we here to talk about our personal lives? No, no we are not, but I will say that this is false and that we are no more than friends and partners at work." Judy said. She could already see the headlines. 'fox and bunny cop in romantic relationship.' plastered on the front page of every newspaper in Zootopia. Thinking about it, it wouldn't be that bad. There would be an outrage from the specieist mammals, and they would probably get some abuse on the streets but who cares, they get that anyway.

"Am I correct in saying that you were already looking for the Tiger that went savage?" a giraffe reporter called, bringing Judy's mind back into the moment.

"The tiger was reported missing last week, however she was not previously known to us." Nick said.

"What is being done about the recreational use of Nighthowler serum and is this another case of an overdose?"

Judy took this one, she was thankful to get her mind off her last question. "We are looking into the possibility however we cannot confirm or deny it as of yet. As for the use and supply of nighthowler serum, we have teams dedicated to shutting down the dealers and supply lines, we take the use of it very seriously."

Bogo tapped at his wrist form the back of the crowd indicating that it was time to wrap things up.

"One more question." Judy announced to the crowd, paws and hooves flying up into the air.

"Yes, the goat on the left."

"How can we be expected to feel safe if the only ZPD members brave enough to take on a savage tiger are a fox and a rabbit?"

Judy instantly took annoyance at this. "I assure you..." She started a little too harshly, but Nick soothed her arm with his paw. She started again more calmly. "I assure you, that all of the ZPD officers are trained, capable and willing to take on any problem, criminal, or savage mammal that comes our way. No matter what species the officer is. That will be all." Judy gathered all of the papers from the podium and helped Nick down, camera flashes going off like strobe lighting again. She led Nick in to the ZPD lobby in the opposite direction of Woolford and Fangmeyer.

"I hate doing those." Judy grumbled, "Why do they always ask such ridiculous, irrelevant questions."

"Because they are vultures, circling overhead just waiting for a slip up so they can get their next big headline." Nick said, sitting himself down in the lobby, waiting for the crowd to disappear. They could be there all day.

"Where is Bogo?" Judy asked herself, looking around nervously. She spotted the chief heading up the steps and let out a sigh of relief.

"Sir can I have a word?" Judy said as soon as Bogo opened the door. Bogo nodded and sat beside Nick.

"Last night I got a message from an unknown number… here." Judy handed Bogo her phone with the message open.

"And you have no idea who this could be?" Bogo asked over the top of his glasses. Judy shook her head, her ears waving slightly. They brought a glow to Nicks face, he found it funny how much they moved. Judy had stopped opening car windows when he was around because he would just laugh at them flapping in the wind.

"Do I.T. know about it?" Bogo asked.

"No, I wanted to run it by you first, if it's serious they will have used a burner phone anyway." Judy said, taking her phone back from Bogo.

"True, get them to trace it anyway and get a tracker put on your phone. If they send another, we need to know who, when and where it was sent from." Bogo stood, but before he left, he dished some jobs out.  
"I assume telling you to go home now will be pointless?" He asked, but before they could answer he continued.  
"Well the CCTV from yesterday showed Mrs Bengal getting thrown out of a van that was reported stolen in the Rain-forest district 2 days ago. Grizzoli tracked the van to Tundra-town. It came from and went back to there, but we lost the trail on the highway. There isn't much coverage out there. Go and speak with the mammal that reported it stolen then follow the highway north to Glacier Gorge, that's where we lost the van. Here's the address." Bogo handed Judy a small paper with the mammal's address on, nodded and stepped away.  
"You should know, Lydia was sniffing around this case." Without another word Bogo stomped off towards his office.

"Great… sore, wet, then cold." Nick moaned, slapping his paws on his knees before slowly and carefully dragging himself up.

"Oh, stop whining, the car's round back so at least we don't have to deal with the vultures again." Judy gave Nick a gentle dig and bounced up to walk with him.  
"What would Lydia want with the case?" She asked as they walked.

"It's the biggest case anybody's had for a long time, she's probably just curious. I don't think we need to worry about her." Nick had been thinking about Lydia's involvement. His judgement was clouded by how she treated him in the academy, but if you looked past that, she was a good cop and Nick couldn't imagine her doing it now.

* * *

The address Bogo had given them had led them to a house on the edge of the rain-forest, it had 6-foot walls all the way around with electronic gates over the drive and at least 5 CCTV cameras watching the place.

"How could anybody steal anything from here? The place is a fortress." Judy asked as she drove up to the gate. The intercom was just within reach, but she didn't have to press it, the huge metal gates swung open just before she pressed the button.

"Must be expecting us." Nick said, shifting anxiously in his seat. Everything about it felt wrong. No situation where an unmarked police car gets let through a gate, no questions asked had ever ended well.

"Judy we should go, this isn't right." Nick said as the gates closed behind them, trapping them in there until they were set free.

"We're dealing with a victim here." Judy gasped, shocked at what nick had just said.

"Would a victim just open their front gate to a car they have never seen before, without asking who it is?" Nick asked. Judy opened her mouth to speak but Nick cut her off. "I'll tell you! No, no they would not, they would be wary of everybody." Nick was sat forward trying to look into the upstairs windows of the house, he needed to know his escape route should things go south.

"I'm sure it will be fine." Judy shrugged him off and got out of the car. She walked around to help him out, but Nick batted her away and struggled to his feet on his own.

"This is ridiculous." Nick hissed when Judy knocked on the door, however she wasn't having any of it. Judy totally ignored him. The door opened and an old pig was stood on the other side. He wasn't frail by any means but was of no danger to Nick or Judy whatsoever.

"Hello sir, Officer Hopps and Wilde, I believe you had a van stolen a couple of days ago?" Judy said, a little too smug for Nick's liking.

"Oh yes, come on in." The pig waved them in and disappeared into what must have been the living room. Judy started to follow but snapped around when she heard Nick.

"Carrots, something's wrong, I can feel it." He whispered.

"Will you pack it in. You're being ridiculous." Judy scolded him. Nick's tail frizzed behind him. He didn't like getting angry, especially at Judy, but he knew something was wrong.

"When have I ever been wrong about something like this before? If this goes tits up it's on you." Nick said with a hint of a growl in his voice. Judy's face instantly changed. Her ears fell back, and she was struggling to hide a twitch in her nose.

"Why don't you just wait in the car then." Judy grumbled, spinning away and storming in to the house.

"Don't be stupid Judy, I'm not leaving you on your own." Nick said, with a sigh he followed Judy in, checking that his dart gun was still there just in case.

"I think I've got this." Judy snapped over her shoulder. She was just stepping into the living room when Nick was proven right yet again.

"You should listen to your pet Judith." A husky voice came from the living room, and it definitely did not belong to the sweet old pig.


	9. Chapter 9

_AN: Sorry about the lack of updates lately, I've got a fractured wrist and typing is extremely difficult, I should be back to normal in a few weeks._

* * *

Judy's paw instinctively reached for her tranquilliser, ready to whip it out should anybody try anything stupid. She was instantly regretting not listening to Nick, he was right, in fact he had never been wrong when he had a hunch about these situations. They were still trying to work out who and where the voice had come from when Doug Ramses stepped out from the kitchen.

"You!" Judy gasped lowering her weapon. Doug wasn't armed, and he was too much of a coward to do anything.

"Me." Doug replied sarcastically.

"What exactly are you doing here?" Nick asked angrily. The pain in his hip was not doing anything to calm him down.

"I'm not here to cause you trouble." Doug confirmed, sitting himself down in an armchair by the kitchen door.

"Doug, you emanate trouble." Nick said with raised eyebrows and his head cocked.

"I assume you got my message?" Doug said smugly, a mischievous grin spreading across his face.

"That was you? Why?" Judy said, confused to why he would message her and how he had got her number, but she was strangely relieved to find out that is was Doug. The first thought that had crossed her mind was that it was Amber, not that she had told Nick that. Amber had already caused him enough suffering.

"Why shouldn't we just arrest you now?" Nick asked.

"Because without me you'll never catch the others." Doug relaxed back into his chair and clapped his hooves in front of him like he was untouchable. Judy's ears pricked up, but she looked around to try and gauge what Nick was thinking before she jumped in, she had just learned that lesson the hard way. Even if it had turned out well, it could have gone much worse. Nick nodded slightly, showing Judy that he thought they should hear him out.

"What exactly are you planning to do?" Judy asked.

"I need anonymity from this before we continue, without that you're on your own." Doug said, looking from Nick to Judy then back again.

"It's not up to us to give you that, but I'm sure the chief will agree to something." Nick said cautiously, he didn't know if they could trust Doug yet, but he didn't want to risk losing their only lead.

"In that case, I'll be in touch. wait for my message" Doug said with an evil laugh.

"How _did_ you get that number?" Judy asked, she needed to know, the fact that this group had her number made her wonder what else they had on her.

"Oh, I have my ways. Now go before I change my mind." Doug disappeared back into the kitchen. Judy was about to follow him, but Nick stopped her. He was sure that Doug wasn't going to run, and they wouldn't leave until another unit arrived to keep an eye on him.

* * *

While waiting for another car to arrive to take over, Nick had been thinking about what Doug had said. The hustler part of his mind was starting to flag up all sorts of warning signs.

"what are you thinking?" Judy asked. She was worried that whoever was in charge of this group knew where they lived and what lengths they would go to, to get away with it.

"I just don't understand why Doug would want to help us." Nick was always sceptical when Criminals wanted to help. He knew first hand that everyone in that world was only out for themselves and he had been no exception to that rule, Finnick being the only mammal that he would consider doing anything for. But that was before he had left that life behind. Now, he would purposely go out of his way to help, especially when Judy was involved

Judy noticed a change in Nick, she'd seen it many times before and knew exactly what he was thinking about. She squeezed his leg with her paw.  
"We'll find him." Judy said with a forced smile. Finnick hadn't took Nick 'changing sides' well. At first, he had accepted it and things continued fairly normally, but after one of their first cases, their 8th if Judy remembered correctly, everything changed.

They were onto a group of mammals who were scamming the elderly out of their savings and the case was coming to an end, they knew where the group was going to be and when they would be there. All they had to do was walk in and arrest them, but as always things weren't that easy. Nick and Judy were first in, followed by another 4 officers but the group must have known they were coming. Nick was taken down by a coyote as soon as he burst in, but he turned it around and was soon on top with his knee in the mammals back. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Finnick making a break for it out of the back door and was instantly filled with rage. They had no argument with fleecing mammals out of their money, but their number one rule was to never go after vulnerable mammals, the elderly and disabled were always out of bounds for both of them. He shouted for Judy and pointed to Finnick, almost screaming for her to not let him get away. The fennec hadn't been seen since and it broke Nick's heart.

Nick sighed and hung his head. "I hope so... but we've got cases to solve first."

The second car pulled up with Lydia and her new partner in. Judy grumbled something to herself and climbed out of the car to fill them in on what was happening, she still didn't believe that Lydia was totally innocent and was wary of giving her too many details.

Nick took the moment to himself to try and recompose himself. He couldn't help but watch Judy walk over to the cruiser, her tail lightly flicking with each step. 'get a grip you dumb fox.' Nick thought to himself. He had good friends, his mother was getting better and he had the best partner anybody could ask for but somehow, something was missing, and he couldn't quite put his paw on what it was.


	10. Chapter 10

It was the morning after the press conference and Doug's proposal, Judy was walking up to Bogo's office. Her and Nick were supposed to be having a meeting with him together and he was stood opposite the buffalo's door when she arrived. Judy was only a few minutes behind Nick, she had popped to the locker room and agreed to meet him here.

"Ready?" Judy asked.

"For what?" Nick said with the smuggest grin Judy had ever seen.

"What have you done now?" She asked, raising her eyebrows at him.

"Me? Nothing, why do you ask?" Nick said, feigning innocence.

"Wilde, I can read you like a book." Judy reminded him. She was not wrong either, with all the time they spent together she had learned all of his subtle signs and right now it was obvious he was up to something.

"Bogo agreed to let Doug help us." Nick sounded so proud of himself, but Judy couldn't help but wonder what the catch was.

"And?" Judy asked, probing for more information.

"And… I got him to agree to let us be on the raid squad when we take them down." Nick was struggling to keep still and his tail was swishing with excitement. The memory of his first raid was, for now at least, pushed out of his mind. Judy's face lit up, she loved the adrenalin and excitement that came with a raid, there was always a risk it could go badly wrong but that only added to the excitement and with her hearing and stealth, and Nick's sense of smell and night vision they made for the perfect team.

"How did you get him to agree to that?" Judy asked when the initial excitement started to ware off.

"He feels that he owes us for saving his massive ass." Nick said just as they heard a door creak open. Nick stood stock still, his tail frizzed behind him and his ears dropped to the back of his head.

"Officer Wilde, taking such interest in your chief's behind could be seen as fraternisation. I would hate to have to transfer you." Bogo said unnecessarily loudly, the whole precinct must have heard him, but at least he knew who the butt of all of precinct 1's jokes would be for the next week or two.

"I don't think that will be a problem sir." Nick said before scurrying away. Bogo winked at Judy before kneeling down so that he was closer to her level. He told her that they were to promise Doug anonymity from Mrs Bengals case and to say nothing more. Bogo still wanted Doug off the streets so they would have to make something stick.

* * *

Almost half an hour had passed since the incident with Bogo and Nick still hadn't reappeared, he had a lot of respect for the chief and was strangely intimidated by him.

"I'm phoning him again, this is just stupid." Judy said to Clawhouser, she was perched on the reception desk munching on one of his donuts, waiting for Nick to come out of hiding. She pulled out her phone and was just about to call Nick when her message tone chimed.

'Do we have a deal?' appeared in the text box at the top of her screen, Judy tapped it and typed out a simple 'yes' in reply. Within seconds her phone chimed again. 'Good, there's an abandoned house just off the highway in the rain-forest district, by the wall to downtown. it used to be one of Mr Big's safe-houses. Meet me there, just you and that filthy fox.'

Judy typed out another message, this time to Nick. 'CAR NOW!' Was all it said.

* * *

Judy entered the parking lot under the ZPD, the cold, dark expanse of concrete and cars always made her feel a little uneasy and this time was no different, she could feel eyes on her but there was nobody to be seen or heard. Judy made her way over to their car, the bright blue BMW looked so out of place alongside the cruisers and police bikes, but that was the whole point of an undercover car. Not that they needed it anymore, the gang they were following already knew the car, but they would be hanging on to it for as long as they could. Nick still had the keys, so Judy sat on the bonnet and waited for him to turn up. She pulled out her phone and called Nick, but as soon as her phone touched her ear the bonnet shook, and the engine rumbled to life with a loud bang from the exhaust.

Judy jumped up, her ears almost brushing the ceiling and her heart almost bursting out of her chest. She landed on both feet and one paw, with her other on her weapon facing the car. Nick's stupid face was laughing back at her from behind the windshield.

"You stupid fox! I almost had a heart attack." Judy said as she stormed towards the passenger side door.

"What? You said." Nick unlocked his phone and turned it to Judy. "car now… So here I am."

"Well was there any need for that?" Judy asked, the adrenaline still running through her.

"Was there need for it? No, no there was not, but it did cheer me up… a lot." Nick said, smiling at how cute Judy looked when she was angry. She punched him in the arm a bit too hard.

"Ow." Nick pouted at Judy with his angry eyebrows on. "That was hard."

"You deserved it though." Judy said, cheekily sticking her tongue out at him.

"What's the rush anyway?" Nick said, he knew that something must have come up and had a good idea what it might be.

Judy explained that Doug was ready to meet and where they were going, Nick knew the safe-house well, he had spent a few nights there himself. It was a good place for the meeting, not many mammals knew about it and Nick's knowledge of it meant that they wouldn't be trapped easily should Doug turn out to be misleading them. Nick had taken some painkillers for his hip while they were at the precinct, so he was almost back to full strength and was ready for anything.

* * *

The safe house sat in about an acre or land bellow the highway and had an overgrown driveway leading up to it from one of the many winding roads that snaked through the rain-forest, if you didn't know it was there you would never find it. It was the perfect safe-house.

"we should go in the back door." Nick said when he stopped the car and cut the engine, Doug's van was already parked up but there was no other sign of anybody being there.

"Why's that?" Judy asked.

"Because Mr Big always uses the back door on his safe-houses, the front door is normally booby-trapped to stop mammals like you and me getting in."

"What, cops, or weirdos?" Judy said, getting out of the car.

"Well most criminals are weirdos so cops I guess." Nick said with a shrug of his shoulders. He led the way around the back of the house through overgrown bushes and ferns. Sure enough the back door was already open, and Nick could smell Doug's scent, it was faint but if he tried he could just about pick it up. With his paw on his tranquilliser Nick stepped inside and cautiously made his way in to the safe-house, the old floorboards creaking with each step. Figuring that anybody there had already heard them come in, he called for Doug and a response came from the door to his right.  
"In here." Doug's voice sounding even coarser than last time they had met.

Nick and Judy entered the room and Doug was leaning against the far wall smoking a cigarette. He looked nervous and was constantly looking around the room, which made Judy wary of the whole place. She discreetly undone the button on her holster and her ears stood on guard above her head.

"So what do you have for us?" Nick asked, coming straight out with it, he doubted that Doug wanted to beat around the bush and he certainly didn't want to be there any longer than they needed to be.

"I know where and when the gang is meeting. And I'll tell you as long as you can guarantee that I'll be let go." Doug said, playing with his cigarette.

"Bogo has agreed to overlook your involvement in Mrs Bengal's case." Judy said, hoping that Doug wouldn't pick up on the holes in the deal.

Doug stood silently thinking for a moment before smiling at Judy.  
"Alright, I'll tell you what I know."


	11. Chapter 11

Nick pulled up in front of Judy's building and tapped out a text to let her know he was there. It was the night of the ZPD party, and they were already running late so Nick was praying for Judy to be ready.

'I'll be down in 5'

Nick sighed and threw his head back against the seat.

'We're already late.' He typed out but changed it to 'OK Fluff' with a fox emoji and a smiley face.

'why are you so late anyway?' Judy text back.

'I may or may not have been blow drying my tail...' Nick replied. Knowing that even if it wasn't true it would get Judy out of her apartment in a flash. It worked a treat because a minute later Judy popped out of the buildings lobby and hopped happily towards the car. She looked absolutely stunning in her off the shoulder, short black dress with her perfectly fluffy tail poking out the back of it. Nick couldn't keep his eyes off her.

"Where's this tail at then?" Judy asked excitedly as she got into the car, Nick gazing dreamily at her the whole time.

"Slick, my face is up here." Judy said, grinning from ear to ear.

"I know fluff, but your tail's down there." Nick said with a sly smile which was soon wiped away by a swift punch in the arm.  
"you keep your paws to yourself Mr Wilde." Judy said with a girly giggle.

"I'm not promising anything." Nick said with a sly smile and a quick wink before driving off towards the club on the Savannah Central strip where the party was. This was the only night off they had had for weeks and they were both determined to forget all about the case, the last couple of days had been mental. The information they had got from Doug told them that the gang would be meeting next Tuesday in a house in

"OH, EM, GOODNESS!" Judy gasped when Nick climbed out of the car, his enormously bushy tail puffing up when he got out of his seat.

"What? What is it?" Nick asked, startled by Judy's sudden outburst.

"You actually did blow dry it." Judy said, trying her best to hold in her laughter. But she couldn't resist the urge to touch it.  
"It's soooo fluffy." She was almost hypnotised by it, until Nick suddenly whipped it away from her.

"If I have to keep my paws to myself so do you, now come on before Clawhouser sends a search party out for us."

The whole of their shift had already arrived when Nick and Judy walked through the door to the sound of them all cheering.

"Finally… You two have got some catching up to do, you're double parked." Wolford said handing two full drinks to Nick and another two to Judy.

"Double parked?" Judy asked.

"A drink in each paw… Double parked." Nick confirmed lifting both of his drinks up and cocking his head, only to hear aa plopping sound of more cheering. A few seconds later he heard Fangmeyer. "Washington's drowning Nick!"

"This is going to be an eventful night I see." Nick said to Judy before turning around and Downing his drink in about 20 seconds flat to another round of cheers and a hard whack on the back from Wolford.

"I'll get you back…" Nick said, "I'll wait till you find yourself a nice wolf to chat to and then plop… moment ruined."

"You wouldn't dare." Wolford gasped sarcastically.

"Oh I would, and you couldn't let Washington drown now could you." Nick said, his voice dripping with just as much sarcasm.

Wolford thumped Nick in the back again laughing with him.

"Where's Ben at anyway" I was expecting to hear him squealing when we walked in." Nick asked, looking around the dark, Smokey room, hoping to catch a glimpse of the cheetah in one of the strobe light flashes.

"He's trying to put a request in with the DJ, but I don't think it's going to well." Wolford said, pointing to the DJ booth across the dance floor.

"It's Ben, he's probably asking for gazelle or even worse Justin Beaver." Nick groaned. "I'll go save him."

Grabbing Judy to come with him Nick made his way through mammals of all sizes on the dance floor to get to Ben. As soon as they did, Nick tapped his arm with his paw and there it was, the high-pitched screech Nick was expecting when they walked in. Both of them flinched away a little. The noise must have been unbearable for Judy, it was bad enough for Nick, but her ears were so much more sensitive than his.

"You made it!" Ben shouted excitedly, squeezing both of them into a hug, almost spilling one of Judy's two drinks.  
"Where did you get to?" He asked but spoke over them when they tried to answer. "Doesn't matter you're here now and this douche-bag won't play gazelle for me." Ben huffed

"Let me talk to him big guy." Judy said with a soft smile.

Judy leaned against the DJ booth and a few seconds later Gazelle's latest hit was blasting out into the club.

"What did you say." Ben asked in amazement, his hips swishing in time to the music.

"That if he played one Gazelle song, I'd keep you away from him for the night." Judy said lightheartedly although it was entirely true.

The Night was going amazingly well, everybody was having a great time, Ben had stayed away from DJ Grump and neither Nick or Judy had thought about the case once. But the club was getting a little tiring so the suggestion to move on was floated and once everyone's glasses were empty, they all staggered along to a quieter pub with a pool table and a jukebox.

Nick got him and Judy a drink and sat down in the corner of the room beside the pool table with Wolford to his left and a space for Judy on his right. Not that Judy had any intention of using it, instead she pulled a reluctant Nick to his feet and made him dance to music he'd never heard before.

Nick woke up and his head was pounding, the older he got the worse the hangovers seemed to be and the worse his memory of the night before became. The last thing he remembered was dancing with Judy, his muzzle dangerously close to hers and her paws dangerously close to the base of his tail. The memory was pushed from his mind by the thought of how much abuse they would be getting on Monday morning in the bullpen and a bad itch just above said tail. He scratched it but stopped when he realised that he had slept completely naked witch was very unusual, he always slept in his boxers or some short pyjamas unless... Nick didn't really want to turn over, he knew the wall that he was staring at didn't hold any surprises but the rest of his bed was behind him and not knowing what lay there was a thousand times better than what he thought lay there. He tried to think back. He couldn't remember talking to any vixens last night, so his mind turned to the worst possible scenario. 'how could I go crawling back to her?' Nick asked himself, assuming that the soft snoring he had just picked up on belonged to his abusive ex partner, Amber.

He lay there for a few minutes lecturing himself in his head, planning how to get rid of her before he turned over. He let out the biggest sigh of relief he ever had when he didn't see the distinctively dark crimson fur of his ex, instead whoever it was had what looked like incredibly soft grey fur, it must be a silver fox. He thought to himself. Nick used his nose to see if their scent would give him a clue, but he must have been dancing with Judy more than he remembered because her scent was still strong on him.

'Just lift the covers and have a look' his brain was telling him. So that's exactly what he did. The sight of the fluffy white tail and long ears drooping onto hiss mattress had Nick scurrying his way out of the bed and quickly pulling on some pants to cover himself.

"Judy?" Nick said quietly. He didn't want to startle her, but he needed to know what had happened. Looking around the room painted a clear picture of what had gone on, Judy's dress was discarded by the far wall, Nick shirt beside the bed with a button missing. He was just hoping that he was wrong but in a way he wanted it to be true. If it had been anybody else lying there, he would have disappeared for an hour or two until he was certain that they had left, but once the initial shock had worn off, he felt strangely comfortable with the situation.

Looking back to the bed Nick was met with Judy staring back at him with Wide eyes and a twitching nose.

"Morning." Nick said awkwardly with a forced smile.

"Nick?" Judy asked, not quiet believing what she was seeing. "Oh god." She said as the foggy memory of last night started to come back to her.

"Did we..." Nick started but Judy cut him off with a slow nod. Once again Nick was torn, this time between being terrified of losing Judy and terrified of things staying as they were before.

"Nick, I... We... I don't want things to change because of one drunken mistake." Judy said, hanging her head, she couldn't bring herself to look at Nick, and calling last night a mistake cut her to her core. She just couldn't handle losing him again, the time she had spent away from him after her first press conference ha been the hardest time of her life.

Nick visibly deflated, one word rattled around his head causing so much pain inside of him.

"Yeah... Just a stupid drunken mistake, just about sums me up doesn't it." Nick growled, he grabbed the nearest T-shirt he could, swung a coat over his shoulders and before Judy could do anything the door slammed behind him.


	12. Chapter 12

Judy leaned against the wall of her apartment building while she waited for Nick to pick her up. The rest of Sunday had been the worst day of Judy's life. Nick had ignored her calls and wouldn't reply to her texts, and just to top it off she had no idea where he was and was worried sick. The only contact she had had with him was a text this morning that read, 'Pick you up normal time.' without the usual kiss on the end or any of Nick's sly comments. Judy closed her eyes as she rested her head back against the cold grey concrete behind her, she had so many things flying around in her head. Hurting Nick was the last thing she had wanted to do but looking back on it, saying that what had happened was a mistake was the worst thing she could have possibly said. After his reaction yesterday it was obvious that he had feelings for her beyond being partners or just friends and she had just ruined any chances of that happening, that was if their friendship could even recover.

Judy picked her head up and opened her eyes at the sound of a car pulling up in front of her, her ears stood up in confusion when she saw Nick sat in the driver's seat like nothing had happened.

"Morning." Nick chirped in an overly happy manor, without so much as a glance in Judy's direction.

"Morning..." Judy replied as she slowly sat down in the passenger seat. She could see Nick's grip tightening on the steering wheel and his jaw clenching. That was when she realised just how much she had hurt him.

"Look, Nick, what I said yesterday. I didn't mean... Me and you... I, I, I'm so sorry." Judy said finally letting out a sob that she had been holding in for almost 24 hours. She folded her arms as though hugging herself and looked down into the foot well.

Nick let out a steady breath. His paw landed on Judy's shoulder and he pulled her towards him. Judy shuffled herself over so she could lean against him without getting jabbed in the ribs by the handbrake.

"I didn't mean to hurt you, I just didn't want to lose you again." Judy sobbed into Nicks chest.

Nick stayed silent but Judy felt the comforting weight of his muzzle resting on top of her head.

"I know Carrots." Nick sighed. "I just thought..." Nick trailed off.

"You thought what?" Judy said with a sniffle, but she already had a good idea of what Nick wanted to say.

"Nothing, I'm just being stupid." Nick sighed. He lifted his muzzle from Judy's head and his paw slid down her back.

"I'm sure you're not." Judy said, prodding him to spit it out. Nick just shrugged his shoulders and cocked his head.

"We'd best get going, Bogo will have our tails if we miss the brief." Nick said. He had lost the careless, overly happy look he had when he pulled up. Instead, Nick looked withdrawn and distant, as if something was really bothering him or he was deep in thought. His eyes were vacant and his ears flat to his head, his mouth a flat line across his muzzle.

"Ok Slick." Judy said. She knew better than to push him but the air of concern in her voice didn't go unnoticed. Nick quickly put up his trademark sly façade. Not that there was much point, Judy could always see right through it to the emotional, almost fragile fox underneath.

* * *

The briefing had been just as boring as usual, even Judy was starting to find them monotonous. They had been given the task of doing some recon on the house Doug had pointed out as the meeting place for the gang. Just to make sure that everybody turned up as he said they would. He had told them that the whole gang were having a meeting to discuss their next move, and that if they struck on Tuesday morning, they would catch the gang with enough '_product' _to put them all away for a long time even if they couldn't get any other charges to stick.

Everyone stood to leave the bull-pen but Nick stayed sat at the front in a world of his own.

"Are you ok Slick." Judy asked when she noticed he wasn't behind her. She turned and walked back over to him. Nick gave a slow nod before rubbing his eyes with his paws and standing up.

"I'm fine Carrots, I just didn't sleep that well. I had a lot on my mind." Nick sighed giving Judy a forced smile. They walked out of the bull pen, Nick trailing behind slightly with his head down and ears drooping. He was so distracted that the door almost hit him in the face on his way out, he huffed to himself as he fumbled his way through it.

After one or two more near misses with doors and large mammals Nick and Judy made it to the car without any injuries.

"Are you sure it's a good idea for you to do the raid tomorrow?" Judy asked once she was sure nobody could hear them.

Nick screwed his face up a bit "Yeah, why wouldn't I do it?" He said in an uncharacteristically childish way.

"Well you seem a little... you know... distracted." Judy said cautiously.

"How many times Judy, I'm fine. Just stop bothering me about it OK." Nick snapped, a flash of anger shooting through him, but it disappeared as quickly as it arrived, lashing out was not going to help him here.

"If the case is getting too much, we can always take a step back." Judy said.

Nick sighed again and gripped the top of his head with his paw. "Not everything revolves around work Judy!" He snapped again, almost shouting this time. Judy's ears fell behind her and her nose twitched nervously, her instinctual fear telling her to get out of there as fast as she could, but she knew that Nick would never hurt her no matter what. Nicks expression softened and turned to one of shame and regret when he saw Judy's reaction to him.

"I'm sorry Judy, I shouldn't take this out on you, but you know what they say... you always hurt those closest to you." Nick looked at Judy out of the corner of his eyes with a sad smile.

* * *

The rest of the day had been fairly uneventful, but the nerves were starting to set in for the raid tomorrow. The excitement of it all was always countered by the knowledge that somebody could get seriously injured or even worse. It was best to push those thoughts to the back of your mind though and that's what Nick and Judy had been trying to do all day, but weather it was because of the mood in their car or just the way they were both feeling right now it was proving quite difficult to do so.

The day's recon mission had been a success though, which was one positive thing to focus on. The gang had turned up as planned, 3 sheep including Doug arrived first, each of them carrying 2 briefcases. Then about an hour after that another car pulled up with 2 mammals in. Both of them wearing long coats and hoods so they couldn't be identified. The only thing that Nick and Judy could say for certain is that one was a wolf and the other was a red fox.


	13. Chapter 13

Nick's heart was racing so fast that he could feel his own pulse in his temples. He fumbled around with his equipment belt, having one last check before they got to the house. He had checked himself twice before getting in the back of the unmarked van and another 3 times while they were all bouncing along on their way to the raid.

"Everything Still there Nick?" Wolford asked sarcastically. He was sat opposite Nick with the battering tam between his legs.

"Better safe than sorry." Nick said. Judy's paw gripped his as the van jolted to a stop. Her sweaty palm confirming that Nick wasn't the only one who was a little apprehensive.

"I'll take point." Judy said, snatching her paw away when Nick squeezed it back in protest.

"Do you think that's a good idea Judy?" Nick asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice. They were only on the squad because they knew the most about the case, they would never normally be on the raid squad and now Judy was charging in head on, putting herself at risk as she always did.

"Yes, I think it's a brilliant Idea." Judy said in an overly cocky way before muttering under breath "Feel free to stay in the van."

"If you're on point I'm taking second." Nick said, more as a question to the squad leader than a statement. The hardened dingo that was in charge gave a single nod before addressing the team.

"Right then, Hopps is up front because frankly I'm too scared to say no to her, Wilde behind her. The rest of you... you know what to do. Don't forget to check your corners." The leader said in a gruff voice before the back doors flew open and they all flew out and pilled up beside the front door of the house, Wolford was on the left-paw side with the ram and Judy was on the right with Nick behind her, his left paw resting on her shoulder and his right paw on his dart gun.

Doug had assured them that there would be no firearms in the house, but they still had dart guns and lethal weapons just in case they needed them.

Wolford counted down from three on his fingers, slamming the 'master key' as he liked to call it into the door just beside the lock. It only took 2 quick hits before the door flung open. The team all rushed through the door as quickly as possible, taking them by surprise was key.

"ZPD! ON THE GROUND NOW!" Nick shouted, not that it ever worked.

Judy checked a doorway to the left, "Clear" she shouted just as a mammal appeared at the end of the hall. A red fox, It was a vixen. Judy froze at the sight of her, nothing had hinted that she would be there. How had Judy missed this. After everything that had happened how had she looked passed it. That's when she saw the barrel of the gun pointed directly between her eyes. Judy couldn't make her body work, the combined shock of staring down the barrel of a gun and the fact that it was Nick's ex, Amber that was holding it had her rooted to the spot.

The next thing Judy felt was a thud to the back of the head and her ears ringing from the deafening bang of the gun shot. Realising she was on her back Judy tried to get up, but she couldn't, something was pinning her down.

"Nick!" Judy gasped. The tod was sprawled on top her.

"Nick, we need to get up." Judy said as she tried to push Nick up, but she couldn't move him. She pulled her paw away and it was glistening red with blood. Nick jolted when somebody trampled on the end of his tail. Judy looked up to see that the rest of the team had already rushed in and arrested Amber, Doug and the rest of the gang, but she didn't care. Right now all that she wanted was for Nick to get up.

"Nick, come on." Judy sniffled. Her voice cracking as she pulled herself out from under him. She managed to roll Nick onto his back. The fox's uniform was stained a deep crimson and there was a small hole in his shirt to the right side of his chest.

"No, no, no, no, Nick, please wake up!" Judy sobbed as she cradled Nicks head in her arms. His eyes opened a little and a smile tried to creep onto his face when he saw her.

"Judy... don't leave me." Nick whispered, his consciousness fading quickly and there was nothing Judy could do to stop it.

"I won't I'm right here." Judy said through gentle sobs.

Judy looked up for a moment, they needed help. "get an ambulance here now! Officer down!" she screamed at the top of her voice.

"Judy..." Nick's voice was fading, and Judy didn't hear him, but she still held him in her arms, nothing would make her let go.

"Judy..." Nick said again, even quieter this time, but it was enough for her to hear him. She looked him in the eyes and stroked his face with her paw.

"Judy... I, I love you." Nick's voice was breathy and weak, but Judy heard him loud and clear, nothing else in that moment mattered. Judy was just about to speak but Nick slipped away from her, he was breathing but only just and he had slipped into unconsciousness. Judy pulled him close to her chest, hugging him tightly. Her tears wetting his already blood-stained fur.

"I love you too." She whispered in his ear through quiet sobs before losing all control of her emotions. She sat with Nick slumped against her in her arms, convinced that he would never get to hear her saying that she loved him, that she would never get to thank him for saving her life, she would never feel his warm, coarse fur again. Her whole world was collapsing around her and she was powerless to stop it.

Judy didn't resist when the paramedics pulled her off him, she just stood back with her paws over her mouth in silence. She felt like a hollow shell of the once proud, motivated bunny she was. Wolford said something to her and she felt his paws on her arms, but she couldn't understand him. The whole world sounded like she was underwater, everything was happening in slow motion.

"Judy." Wolford said shaking her to bring her back down to earth. Her eyes snapped to him and her lip quivered. She couldn't help but throw herself into the wolf, wrapping her arms around him and crying into his uniform.

"This is all my fault." Judy said, her voice muffled by Wolford's uniform.

"Now, we'll have less of that Hopps. Nick will pull through, he's strong and he's like you... he doesn't know when to quit." Wolford said in an attempt to reassure Judy.

"They're taking him to Zootopia Central hospital, I'll drive you there." Wolford said, stroking his paw down the back of Judy's head. Judy nodded and peeled herself away from him.

* * *

Judy hadn't said a word all the way to the hospital, in fact she was totally silent, she just sat and stared out of the passenger window, the reflection of the cruisers blue lights had put her in a sort of trance. They had got to the hospital so quickly that they had beat the ambulance, but not by much. Judy immediately wished that they hadn't when she saw Nick getting rushed through the ER and straight into theatre. The paramedics had done an excellent job at stopping the bleeding, but it hadn't taken long for it to soak through the bandages and stain the white sheets a deep red.

Judy's mind went into overdrive again, she just kept telling herself that if she hadn't insisted on going first that none of this would have happened. And if she had just had the courage to draw her weapon or even move out of the way, Nick wouldn't have had to jump in front of her. If he didn't make it she would never forgive herself.

* * *

2 hours had passed, the doctors were still fighting tirelessly to save Nick. Judy was slumped against the wall in the corridor waiting for any news. The waiting room was too much to handle, all of the mammals in there being loud and demanding to be seen immediately when her fox was clinging to life by the tips of his claws. She just couldn't take it, so she slipped out through a set of double doors and collapsed against the wall. She had her knees folded up and was resting her arms and head on them. Trying her best not to have a total breakdown. She opened her eyes and saw her badge glinting under the fluorescent lights. She tore it from her shirt and threw it as hard as she could across the corridor. That badge had caused so much heartache and pain for her and so many other mammals, Nick was the final straw. She wasn't going to let herself cause any more harm to anybody else and in Judy's head, the best way to do that was to never put that badge on again.

Judy tilted her head back against the wall only to see the doctor standing in the doorway with a sad almost apologetic look on his face.

"Officer Hopps?" he asked, sadness and sympathy dominating his tone. Judy just nodded slowly, she wasn't prepared for what might come out of his mouth.

"Can we talk in private." The doctor said with a forced smile and sad eyes. Judy could barely stand, she'd been here often enough to know that being taken into a room meant it wasn't good news. Her mind flashed back to Nicks pained face as he lay bleeding in her arms and her legs almost buckled from under her. She didn't want that to be the last memory she had of him.

"I need to see him." She said quietly.

"You will, but he's not strong enough right now. I'll tell you everything, but please come with me."

Judy almost burst. Nick had made it, he had survived. For a mere moment she was so happy but then, reality crushed her back down again. What was wrong with him, what was so bad that they needed to talk about it in private.


	14. Chapter 14

Judy followed the doctor into an empty exam room, an overwhelming feeling of dread weighing her down. The doctor gestured for Judy to sit down before taking a seat himself.

"I shouldn't really be telling you this because you're not family, but I know how close you two are and I'm sure you'd find out anyway." The doctor said nervously.

Judy didn't respond, she just gazed vacantly at the door. She hadn't even thought about family, she would have to phone Ms Wilde, but she needed to see Nick first.

"Officer Wilde is in the ICU, we've managed to get the bullet out and stop the bleeding but he's not out of the woods yet."

Judy gave a slow nod, she was trying her best to concentrate and to process what the doctor had to say, but she was struggling to take it all in.

"He's lost a lot of blood, the bullet punctured his right lung and broke a few ribs. Now we have managed to repair the lung but he'll need a lot of rest for it to fully heal."

Judy nodded again, she was still staring vacantly at the door like she was waiting for somebody to come through it. "When can I see him?" She asked quietly.

"they're just finishing up with him and then he'll be allowed one visitor at a time. But Judy... I should warn you. Nick, he... he's in a coma."

Judy closed her eyes and with her paw over her mouth she let out a ragged breath. She looked at the doctor with wide, almost pleading eyes. "But he's going to be ok?" She asked not sure if she wanted to know the answer.

"It really is too early to say, but the surgeon is confident that he'll pull through."

Biting on her claws, Judy gave another slow nod. She had to tell herself that Nick would make it, he was strong, and Wolford was right. He doesn't know when to quit.

* * *

Judy was stood in in the corridor of the ICU outside of Nick's private room. It had windows but Judy couldn't bring herself to look in. She just stood with her back to the wall, waiting for the nod to go in and finally see him. The image of him bleeding out in her arms was still haunting her and she hoped that seeing his sly face again would get rid of it.

"Officer Hopps..." A female ferret called from the door to Nicks room. "you can come in now, were almost finished."

Judy nodded and took a deep breath before making her way into the room. Nick was lying on the hospital bed motionless, his fur was all ruffled and out of place, the creamy fur on his neck and chest was stained a strange pink. Judy moved to his side and clasped his limp paw with both of hers.

"Oh Nick." She said quietly, hugging his paw to her chest. "It should be me lying there." Her voice cracked and she squeezed his paw tightly against her, but the lack of any response from him made her feel empty. Judy looked around the room at all the machines that were hooked up to Nick through more wires and tubes than she had ever seen. The slow beep of the heart monitor was a strange comfort to her. It was proof that although Nick was totally unresponsive, he was still alive.

A firm but quiet tapping on the window of the room brought Judy out of her thoughts, Bogo was standing there in full uniform, holding his hat in his hooves. Judy looked up at the clock, almost 15 minutes had passed in what felt like seconds. She carefully lay Nicks paw down by his side and after stroking the fur of his cheek she walked out to meet Bogo.

"How is he." Bogo said, his usual careless demeanour was nowhere to be seen. Instead he was genuinely concerned.

"He's just lying there... he, he... he just won't wake up." Judy said, tripping over her words.

Bogo kneeled down and carefully hugged her, the sheer size of the buffalo made it extremely awkward but Judy appreciated it anyway.

"What about you Hopps?" Bogo asked before he got up.

"I, I don't know." Judy said, but she genuinely didn't know how she was feeling. It was a mixture of sadness, worry, anger, relief that Nick was alive and immeasurable guilt all mixed into one big dark cloud.

"I found this." Bogo said. Holding a hoof out towards Judy. He was holding her bloodstained, slightly bent badge.

"Sir, I..." Judy started but Bogo held up his hoof to stop her.

"I get it Hopps... but the Judy I know wouldn't quit… and I'm sure Nick wouldn't want you to either." Bogo handed the badge to Judy with a cheesy salute. "I've sent Wolford to get Ms Wilde, and I've brought you a fresh uniform, we can't have her seeing you like this."

Judy sighed with relief, she was dreading telling Nick's mum what had happened, and she had completely forgot about the state she was in. If Ms Wilde had seen her like this she would have had a heart attack. Judy looked like something out of a horror movie. "Thanks Chief." She said hesitantly taking her badge back and following him to the cruiser to change.

* * *

Judy was changed and had fallen asleep in the chair beside Nick's bed. She woke up at the sound of a chair squeaking across the polished floor.

"Sorry." Ms Wilde sniffled. She was sat on the other side of the bed holding Nicks paw in exactly the same way Judy had been before Bogo turned up. How she had managed to sneak in without waking Judy was a mystery, but Judy didn't dwell on it.

Judy didn't know what to say, so she didn't say anything. She stroked Nicks face with her paw, he looked more peaceful now, he could just have been sleeping if it wasn't for the tubes coming out of him.

"I'm so sorry." Judy uttered to Ms Wilde without taking her eyes off Nick.

"It's not your fault Judith..." Nick's mum said, taking one paw from her son's and gently squeezing Judy's arm. "The nice wolf that brought me here told me what happened a and it's got Nick written all over it, well the new Nick anyway, he always puts others first." She said, a little pride making it's way into her voice.

Judy nodded but looked away to yawn.

"You should get some rest."

"I can't leave him." Judy said as she tried to straighten a tuft out on Nick's head.

"I'll phone you as soon as I hear anything else. There's nothing more we can do for him now." Ms Wilde said swallowing a lump in her throat.

Judy sat quietly thinking for a moment. "Ok… Can I get you anything before I go?"

"A water would be nice, thank-you. Do you have a way home?" Ms Wilde said.

Judy hadn't even thought about getting home. The car was at the precinct and the rest of the officers had either gone home or were at work sorting this whole mess out.

"I'll sort something out." She said before slipping out to fetch some water.

* * *

Judy walked out of the hospital and headed for the bus stop over the road, she was shocked at how dark it was, she had been in the hospital for almost 7 hours, but it felt like minutes. According to the time table it was a 10-minute wait for the next bus. 'At least the bus stop was quiet' Judy thought to herself, there was a female ocelot with her kit waiting in one end of the shelter.

Judy plodded over and stood at the opposite end with her head against the cold glass side of the bus stop. She could feel the other mammals' eyes on her, and it took all of her might to not say something.

"Mommy, what's wrong with that bunny?" the kit asked quietly, but Judy's ears picked up almost everything, so she heard it loud and clear.

"She's a police officer Sam." The mother replied, but that didn't really answer the question and the kit wasn't satisfied with that answer.

"But Mom, why is she all red?" the kit asked with more urgency in his voice. Judy had totally forgot about her fur. It was still red and matted with blood. She dropped her head into her paws when the image of Nick popped back her head.

"She's probably just saved somebody, someone she's probably never met before." The mother said to her Kit who was visibly inspired. Judy would normally have jumped in and encouraged the little one, but now she saw that sentence for what it was. A romanticised vision of police officers that although had some truth behind it, it was seldom the reality. She had realised quickly that most of the time if a police officer was covered in blood it was their own or another officers.

After minutes of silence the bus finally arrived, Judy stood back to let the mother and her kit on first.

"Thank-you." The mother said as she ushered the kit on board, Judy didn't even smile in return, she just stared into the door of the bus, thanking god that it was empty. Judy paid the fare and shuffled to the back of the bus where she took a window seat and sat back to watch the city streets go by. She found an unusual comfort riding around the city on a bus, but she couldn't wait to get to her bed.

* * *

Stepping into her dark, gloomy apartment Judy threw her things on the table and grabbed a towel before heading off to the shower so that she could wash out her fur. The water was instantly hot, Judy let it wash over her and she finally felt able to relax. Soon her back was against the tiled wall. She found herself sliding down it and before she knew it Judy was sat on the shower floor with the water washing over her head. She couldn't shift the image of Nick in her arms and the longer it was there the more vivid and terrifying it became. She didn't know how she would cope at work tomorrow knowing that he was still lying in the hospital, unsure when he would wake up if he ever did.


	15. Chapter 15

Judy was lying on her back, wide awake, staring up at the ceiling when her 6 O'clock alarm went off. She had only had about an hour of restless sleep all night, the trauma of yesterday replayed every time she closed her eyes, the bang of the gun waking her up whenever she actually managed to drift off, but she didn't feel sad anymore. Slowly but surely her sadness had turned into pure anger, so much so, that she hit her alarm clock so hard that the top of it cracked when it kept on bleeping after the first attempt at turning it off.

She swung her legs off the bed and sat up, checking her phone for the usual good morning message from Nick. She flipped her phone onto her pillow realising that Nick couldn't possibly send her a good morning text. She looked around the room, stopping when she saw her dented badge catching the moonlight from a crack in the curtains. She sighed at the sight of it, the thought of putting it back on made her feel physically sick, but Bogo was right with what he had said yesterday. 'The Judy I know wouldn't give up' Judy thought about that for a moment and realised that she wasn't the same Judy Hopps that had joined the ZPD all those months ago.

Judy put on her uniform, she had to take a moment when she found one of Nick's ties in her drawer, it was neatly rolled up on top of her uniform. She ran the silky material through her fingers before tucking it away again and with a little hesitation she pinned her badge onto her chest. She took a look in the mirror before walking outside. "Come on Judy, make somebody's world a better place." She said to herself, instantly hating how cheesy she sounded. She headed out early so she would have plenty time to catch the right combination of busses and trains to get to the precinct on time. It felt unnatural walking past the corner of her building where Nick would normally pick her up, but however much she wanted to stop and lean against the wall like she did every morning, she walked on towards the subway entrance at the end of the street. She just hoped that she didn't get stood on while she was down there.

* * *

After the stress of the Zootopia public transport system Judy stormed her way up the front steps and into precinct one lobby. It was the last place she wanted to be, but she just had to know what amount of dirt they had on the gang and she couldn't wait to get Amber alone in an interview room or even just her cell for that matter. Anywhere where she could mentally break the vixen.

"Morning Judy, are you OK? We didn't expect you in today." Clawhouser said from behind a box of doughnuts on his desk.

"I'm OK Ben. I couldn't just sit at home all day with what those creatures did to Nick." Judy said, her foot begging to thump but she managed to keep it under control.

"How is Nick?" Ben asked with droopy ears.

"Not good." Judy said, a whirlwind of emotions flooding back into her. "I just want him to wake up."

"Oh sweetie..." Clawhouser cooed, putting his face in his paws and squishing his cheeks. "When can we see him?"

"visiting times are 2PM to 3:30 and then 5PM till 7." Judy said. She was not missing a single one no matter how much it annoyed Bogo. She would be there as often and for as long as she could.

"Where's Wolford and Fangmeyer?" Judy asked, she pushed all of her thoughts out as best as she could. she had to at least try to hold it together.

"I think you should speak to the chief first." Ben said nervously.

"Why?" Judy huffed, a little taken aback.

"It's really not my place Judy, sorry." Ben said from behind a chocolate doughnut.

"I know, I'm sorry. See you later Ben." Judy said apologetically. She walked off to find Bogo before the morning brief.

After searching everywhere she thought Bogo might be without any luck, she realised that she was almost late for the morning brief. Judy turned on her heals and jogged to the bull pen. She was the last one in apart from the chief. The whole room went quiet as she walked down the middle, the tension in the air could almost be cut with a knife. Judy hopped up onto the chair she normally shared with Nick, the empty space beside her felt like a black void that was trying to suck her in. She did her best to concentrate on something else but ended up staring blankly at nothing in particular. She was so lost that she didn't even hear Bogo walk in. His booming voice was what brought her attention back into the room. He handed out the day's tasks to all of the officers apart from Judy. Rather than telling her to carry on with the case or even telling her that she couldn't carry on with it, Bogo told her to stay back.

Everybody else left the room but Judy stayed seated, looking at Bogo.

"Hopps... I'm glad your here, but are you sure you're ready?" Bogo asked.

"Ready for what?" Judy replied.

"Ready to come back to work, Judy you've been through hell yesterday, go home and get some rest." Bogo said sternly. Judy tried to object but Bogo cut her off. "That's an order Hopps." He said with raised eyebrows.

Judy huffed in annoyance. "Can I at least see the evidence from yesterday." Judy pleaded.

Bogo thought for a moment before answering. "I'm not sure that's a good idea Judy."

"I'll see it eventually..." Judy said, it was a reasonable argument and Bogo couldn't see a good reason for hiding it form her, knowing Judy she would just sneak a look anyway.

"Fine, but I should warn you, it's a little... disturbing, to say the least." Bogo said cautiously.

"Disturbing?" Judy asked.

"You'll see. Come on." Bogo waved for Judy to follow him to the evidence room.

* * *

Judy opened the first of the two briefcases Bogo had placed on the desk at the side of the evidence room. It was stacked full of vials filled with a thick blue liquid.

"Is it all nighthowler?" Judy gasped, there was enough there to turn half of the Downtown area savage.

"Yes, but that's not what's worrying." Bogo said as he flicked open the second case.

"What is that?" Judy asked. The machine in the case looked just like a smoke machine but it had 3 holes in the back that were a perfect match for the vials.

"It's a smoke machine... for nighthowler." Bogo said in his usual monotone voice. "from what we can gather they were planning on swapping it for one of gazelle's machines at her next concert in the city."

"Well at least this is off the streets." Judy said with little enthusiasm.

"There's this as well." Bogo put a third case in front of Judy. "The vixen was the only one who knew the combination."

Judy didn't know if she should open it, she wasn't sure if she wanted to know what was inside. After a moment to build up some courage she opened the case. Judy stepped back, knocking over a stool that was behind her and almost falling in a heap. Her paws covered her mouth and she turned to Bogo, shock and fear tearing through her.


	16. Chapter 16

Judy slowly approached the open case. "How?... why?... when?..." She said, almost whimpering as she thumbed through the first stack of photographs. She could piece together her and Nick's last few days together with them. Each one taken from a distance or from behind a bush or a passing car.

"How many?" Judy asked. She picked up the next pile, not expect an answer from Bogo. This time was even more disturbing. Some of the Photos were just of Nick as he went about his business. As Judy got deeper into the stack love hearts started to appear on the photos, scribbled on with red pen. Then she reached a section of Photos that were just of herself. This time the red pen wasn't used to draw hearts... it started with a cross over her then progressed to crosses over her eyes before eventually evolving into random stabs of the pen over her body until the last photo. The last one was covered in holes where the pen had been stabbed through until there was nothing left of Judy but an outline. Words such as 'Slapper', 'slag' and 'Whore' were frantically scribbled around her as if by a mad mammal.

Lying in the bottom of the box was an envelope with the words. 'how could he' written on in black marker pen. With her heart racing Judy opened the envelope and took out another, smaller stack of photographs. She instantly recognised them as photos from the ZPD party. She thumbed through photo after photo of her and Nick until she came across one that stopped her. In the photo Judy was on her tiptoes outside of the bar with her arms around Nick, his paws were exploring her back, one was taking a feel of her tail. They were sharing what looked to be an amazing kiss, Judy just wished she could remember it.

The next photo had her blushing like mad. Somebody had scrawled 'freaks!' along the top with a bit red arrow pointing between her and Nick. There were at least 20 photos left in this pile, but Judy didn't want to go any further, she knew that her and Nick had left at this point and she didn't need to see what the rest of the photos were of, not while Bogo was standing behind her anyway.

Judy slowly lowered the photos back into the case and took another look over the documentary of her and Nick's lives before slamming the case shut and snapping her head around to Bogo.

"Where is she?" Judy hissed. Her nose was flared and one of her ears had a slight twitch.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Bogo said calmly placing himself between Judy and the door.

"Where is she!" Judy shouted. She was visibly shaking at this point.

Bogo stood his ground for all of 10 seconds until Judy's foot began to thump and she went to speak again.  
"Cell 4." Bogo said sheepishly before trying his best to get out of Judy's way. Even Bogo knew better than to mess with Judy when she was on the war path... Nobody was safe, but he couldn't let her get to Amber.

"Hopps, don't you dare go into that cell." Bogo said with a bit more confidence now that he was out of range.

"I won't have to, I'll drag her through the bars." Judy said over her shoulder as she stormed off."

* * *

Judy burst into the cell block and punched in the code for the outer door. She stomped her way through to the desk and demanded to be let in. The ox that was manning the desk let her through without a second thought. He was so distracted that he didn't even notice her take a baton from the desk before she headed in to the cells.

Most if the mammals were still asleep in their cells when she first walked in, but they wouldn't be for long. Judy held out the baton and dragged it over the bars of the cells as she slowly walked down the central corridor. The slow but loud clanking of metal on metal rang around the cell block sending most of the mammals to the back of their cells.

"Cell 4" Judy said to herself as she clanked her way past a few criminals.

A terrified "What do you want?" Came whimpering out of Cell 4. The vixen couldn't see who was walking towards her and a huge grin spread across Judy's face at how scared she sounded.

The clanging stopped when Judy reached the door to cell 4. "Enjoying your stay?" Judy hissed through the bars of the cell door.

"You... My Nick might die because of you." Amber said in disgust. She tried her best to cover up her fear, but Judy could see right through her.

"We both know that's not true and judging by the photographs in your briefcase I'm pretty sure you know who Nick wants." Judy hated herself for talking about Nick like that, but if it tortured Amber then she was sure that Nick wouldn't mind.

"That bullet was meant for you." Amber hissed, but she made the mistake of putting her muzzle close to the bars. Judy swung the baton as hard as she could, smashing it into the cell door so hard that it shook.

"You don't think I know that! I wish it had hit me! Nick doesn't deserve what you've put him through, and I'm not just talking about this." Judy said through gritted teeth. She had never been like this before. It was so out of character for her to act like this, but she couldn't control herself.

Amber bared her teeth. "What lies has he told you?" she snarled at Judy, once again getting a bit too close to the bars. Judy rapped the baton against them, narrowly missing Amber's nose. The vixen leapt back "Stupid bitch." She spat as she stumbled against the bed.

"Not one..." Judy said with venom. "But he did tell me what you've done to him, what you've put him through, and I won't rest until you pay for it. Oh, and if Nick doesn't pull through… You'd better hope that you never get out of prison." Judy snapped her head around to see Bogo stood with folded arms at the entrance to the cell block.

"I'm not finished with you yet." Judy said to Amber before walking towards Bogo. She stuck the Baton in his hoof on her way past him and headed straight for the locker room.

* * *

Judy was walking out of the precinct in a world of her own when the Chief called for her from the walkway outside his office. Judy's heart sank. She was sure that she was getting fired, but she couldn't say that she really cared. As long as it didn't take long so she could get back to the hospital she was fine with whatever Bogo had to say.

Knocking on the door Judy prepared herself for the scolding that awaited her.

"Enter." Bogo called from inside the office.

Judy jumped up for the handle and pushed the door open, as soon as it did she was straight on the defensive. "Sir, I know I was out of order and I know I disobeyed your orders, but I just couldn't stop myself. I..." Judy rambled on and would have continued if Bogo's hoof didn't rise up to stop her.

"Hopps... sit down." Bogo said. Judy hopped up onto the oversized chair and waited with her heart racing. It turns out she did care what happened and she really, really wanted to keep her job.

"Look Judith... A prisoner has filed a complaint against you. They say that you threatened them verbally and with violence." Bogo read from a piece of paper he held in a hoof.

Judy tried to speak to defend herself, but Bogo continued talking over her.

"As chief of police I have to investigate this, but as I was there when the event apparently happened, I can say that I saw nothing to back up these allegations." Bogo said with the corner of his mouth turned up into what was almost a smile. Judy didn't know what to say, she just sat and stared at Bogo.

"Now if more allegations are made, I will have to look into it to keep the powers that be happy, but as far as I can see this time around there is nothing to back up the complaint. So for god's sake Hopps go home before you cause me any more paperwork."


	17. Chapter 17

Judy walked into the ICU ward and made her way to Nick's room, it was still hours before visiting time, but she figured that nobody would stop her. Especially if she was still in uniform. She walked into Nick's room and he was lying in exactly the same position he had been in last night. The slow rise and fall of his chest and steady beeping from the heart monitor was again of strange comfort to Judy.

"Hey Nicky." Judy cooed as she pulled up a chair. "I miss you." She said with a lump in her throat before gently taking his paw.

"Are you gonna wake up for me today?" She asked him, stroking the fur on his head before she sat down on the chair.

Judy sat for about 15 minutes telling Nick how stupid she had been at the precinct this morning. He would have been so mad at her for acting like that, especially with Bogo watching. She changed the subject of the very one-sided conversation. Judy was just saying what her mind was thinking really, asking Nick all of the questions that popped into her head and then discussing them with herself.

"How do you think Ben can eat so many doughnuts?" Judy asked. She pondered it for a minute before answering her own question. "He has had many, many years of practice. Oh talking about Ben, he said he would pop by to see you soon. I hope it's not tonight though... word will have spread about my little outburst, and I can't be dealing with all of his questions."

Judy was watching Nick the whole time and she could have sworn that the corners of his mouth had turned up into a slight smile. Even if it was impossible, Judy told herself that he was smiling and that he could hear her.

"I'll have to go Slick. The doctors will be kicking me out if I stay much longer. I'll be back later though, and I want you to wake up for me, OK?" Judy gave Nicks paw a squeeze and slowly backed away towards the door. Leaving him was harder than she had expected, the fact that she would be back in a couple of hours helped a little, but she couldn't stop thinking that this might be the last time she sees him.

Thankfully Judy had the car, so she didn't have to take the bus home again. She had a few hours to kill before the actual visiting time however finding a way to fill those hours on her own was proving to be difficult. Almost everything she did out of work was with Nick. She decided to just crab a sandwich and a coffee, then head home and try to relax. Judy toyed with the idea of phoning her parents, but she didn't want to tell them what had happened, it would just end up panicking then and would start another 'bring Judy home' campaign.

* * *

Judy walked into her apartment with a coffee in one paw and a bag with her lunch in hanging from her wrist. The weather had changed since she left the hospital and her fur was dripping wet. Judy grabbed a towel and gave herself a quick dry before sitting at her desk and grabbing her salad sandwich and carrot cake from the paper bag and placing them down on the desk beside the photo of her and Nick on their first shift together. She took the photo and smiled at how happy they both looked, Nick reminded her often that it was the happiest he has ever been, and Judy reminded him that it is the proudest she had ever been.

* * *

"Oh, come on." Judy said in frustration as the hospital elevator slowly made its way up to Nick's floor. The traffic had been terrible on her way to the hospital and she was already a whole 8 minutes late for visiting time.

When the elevator finally reached the ICU Judy jogged down the corridor shoving the door to Nick's room open and rushing in as quickly as she could without drawing too much attention. She was stopped in her tracks by the sight of another mammal sitting in her usual spot beside the bed. The mammal jumped up and turned to face Judy.

"Toots! I was wondering when you'd turn up." Finnick said with a cheeky tone to his voice.

Judy didn't know if she should be angry, sad or happy that he had finally crawled out of the woodwork. Finnick had obviously picked up on Judy's angrier side because he awkwardly rubbed his neck and offered to leave.

"No, no." Judy said in surprise. "I'm glad you're here. We've been looking for you. Nick has… struggled since..." Not wanting to make the situation any more awkward, Judy let her voice trail off.

"I'm not gonna lie, I have missed you guys. I just didn't think you'd want me around." Finnick said, feeling a little relief that Judy hadn't kicked him out or just arrested him there and then, she had more than enough evidence to do it.

"Want's a big word...," Judy said sarcastically. She held her arms out for a hug from the older fox.

"How did you know he was here?" Judy asked when Finnick let go of her.

"News travels fast, especially when somebody shoots a con turned cop."

Judy went through her normal routine of holding Nicks paw and talking to him. Finnick looked a little confused at first, but eventually all three of them were having a very two-sided conversation. Finnick didn't stay for the full visiting time, but he did leave with Judy's phone number so that he could contact them and so Judy could give him updates on Nick.

* * *

Later that Night Judy was lying in her bed thinking about Amber, she couldn't get the image of that creep following them around for at least the last week out her head. She was only just realising how sinister it was. Amber must have been planning this from the beginning, suddenly something clicked. Doug must have been in on it! he must have known what Amber was planning and he led them straight into her trap. Either way, she would get it out of him tomorrow. With or without Bogo's blessing…


	18. Chapter 18

After another sleepless night and a lonely drive to the precinct Judy was sat vacant at the front of the bullpen while Bogo assigned mammals to their cases. She didn't even notice what she had been assigned to, so she just assumed that she was still on Nick's case even though she knew that it was unlikely Bogo would let her carry on with it, especially after her outburst yesterday.

Once everyone else had left Judy stood up and with a sigh she set off towards the door.

"You didn't hear one word of that did you?" Bogo said. Judy stopped and turned herself around, shaking her head slowly while looking at the floor in front of her. Bogo squeezed the top of his muzzle before letting out a gruff huff.

"Hopps, we will all understand if you need to take some time off... nobody will hold it against you." Bogo said, looking down at Judy.

"Sir, I don't need time off I just need to see this case through." Judy said. Her face almost pleading for Bogo to leave her on the case.

"How do I know you won't lose it like yesterday? How would I explain that?" Bogo raised an eyebrow and waited to see what Judy had to say.

"Chief... I need this. I need to know that it is done properly, that nothing is missed." Judy said, her ears were flat to her back and she found herself looking up at Bogo with her 'pleeeaaaseeeee' face on.

Bogo took a moment to think. "If I let you carry on with this, and its a big if, I need you to stay out of the interviews. You can observe but if you set one foot in that interview room, you're off the case."

Judy was about to protest but the look from Bogo told her that there was no room for negotiation, so she kept quiet offering a "thank you chief." Before getting out of the bullpen before Bogo could change his mind.

* * *

Judy was stood impatiently staring through the one-way glass into the interview room where Doug was sat waiting for Fangmeyer and Grizzoli to question him. Wolford was out at the raid house gathering the last of the evidence.

Finally, Grizzoli aand Fangmeyer walked into the room and sat opposite Doug. Judy found it strange that Doug hadn't wanted any legal advice, but she hoped that it would make it easier to crack him.

Once the formalities were out of the way Fangmeyer opened the questioning.

"Where were you on Tuesday the 12th of march?" She asked, it was a question they had to ask even though they already knew exactly where Doug was.

"No comment." Doug replied. He looked over at the one-way glass and gave a smile so smug that even Nick wouldn't be able to match it. Judy felt the heat rising in her, she was about to storm in but remembered what Bogo had said and managed to control herself.

"What were you planning to do with the night howler serum we found you with on Tuesday?"

"No comment."

That was the answer to the next 10 to 15 questions, until Grizzoli asked why the gang had been stalking Nick and Judy.

Doug chuckled to himself and with another glance at the glass he took a breath and explained why. "Because that vermin has ruined all of our lives."

"Why's that?" Fangmeyer asked.

"Why's that!" Doug scoffed. "We had it all planned out, if she hadn't stuck her cute little nose in, Zootopia would have none of you pelts in it by now. You would all be pushed back underground where you belong." He said, banging his hooves on the table. Judy just watched, taking in everything that was said.

"But Amber is a fox, why are you working with her?" Fangmeyer said, not wanting to lose momentum.

"Because this time it wasn't about getting rid of preds. This time we just wanted rid of one parasite." Doug was leaning forward on the table, he was passionate about his cause and it actually scared Judy. She wondered just what lengths the group would have gone to, to get to her.

"What about Amber, what does she have against Officer Hopps?" was the next question directed at Doug.

"You really have to ask that?" Doug said, he was getting very animated now, Judy thought that he looked like he was actually enjoying himself.

"She's all over that fox, she stole Wilde from Amber. Amber could never forgive them for what they've put her through."

Judy almost popped, there was no stopping the rage this time. She slammed a chair out of her way and stormed through to the interview room only to run straight into Grizzoli's giant paws.

"What do you think you're doing." Grizzoli whispered, ushering Judy back into the corridor. "Bogo will have both of out tails if he catches you in here and I wouldn't be surprised if he heard you slamming about in there."

"It's all lies! Every word of it! That bitch put Nick through hell and now she plays the victim! I wouldn't be surprised if she gets away with it, it's just not fair." Judy said, her anger fading into a turmoil of emotions.

"There's no chance of her getting away with it. We look after our own Judy, you know that." Grizzoli said, trying to reassure Judy. Judy didn't know what to say, her eyes were darting around, unable to settle on anything in particular.

"Why don't you go for a coffee, I'll keep you updated." Grizzoli said. With a sigh and a quick nod, Judy pushed herself free from Grizzoli's paws and stormed off to the lobby.

Judy inserted a dollar bill into the vending machine and punched in the number for her coffee. After about a minute the machine dinged, and she grabbed her coffee before heading over to the front desk to catch up with Clawhouser. She placed her coffee down on a part of the desk that was lowered for smaller mammals and was about to hop up to talk to him, but her phone rang before she had a chance. Judy pulled out her phone, thinking the worst. The name that was on the screen only made her worry more, it was Nick's Mom. Judy took a deep breath before answering the Phone.

"Hello." She said hesitantly when there was no voice from the other end of the line.

"Oh Judy, I need you to come down to the hospital." Mrs Wilde said rapidly down the phone. Judy's heart was racing and before she had chance to explain where she was going, she sprinted out of the precinct, knocking her coffee all over the lobby floor as she shot of to her car, still on the phone to Nick's Mom.

"I'm on my way, what's happened." Judy said as she sprinted to the car park.

"It's Nick… He's waking up." Mrs Wilde said. The joy clear in her voice. Judy hung up without saying anything else, she wanted to be there as soon as possible, she needed to see her fox, to prove to herself that he was actually waking up.

* * *

Judy found herself running down the hospital ward once again, it was becoming a daily routine now. She stopped outside of Nicks room, the blinds were closed, and she could here mammals talking and rushing around inside. Judy took a minute to get her breath back before straightening herself out and slowly pushing open the door to Nick's room. Mrs Wilde was stood in the back of the room and 2 doctors were performing tests on Nick. Judy felt like everything was happening in slow motion, she padded over to Nick, slipping right past the doctors. The pair parted to let her through and as they did, she was met with Nick grinning at her. He looked terrible, but to Judy he had never looked better. She couldn't stop the little hop as she awkwardly hugged his neck, leaning over the hospital bed with the rail digging into her ribs.

"I love you too." She whispered into his ear. Nick seemed to pause for a moment, he obviously couldn't remember what had happened but after hearing that and letting it sink in her tightened his arm around Judy as much as he could.


	19. Chapter 19

Nick pulled on his shirt, taking a minute to let the pain dull once he had it on. He had been out of the hospital for almost a month but the wound in his chest was still tender and raising his arm more than a little almost floored him, but no matter how much it hurt him he was going out tonight. After all, he had good reason to celebrate. Amber had just been sentenced to life imprisonment for attempted murder, assaulting an officer, stalking, harassment, domestic abuse, abduction, conspiracy to commit an act of terror, and handling and supply of a class A substance. However, that was dwarfed by the other thing that Nick was celebrating tonight, because tonight was his and Judy's first official date. They were going to the cinema on the strip in Sahara Square. Judy had picked the film, it was a new horror that Nick could never remember the name of.

Meanwhile in Judy's apartment, another dress was discarded onto an ever-expanding pile on the end of Judy's bed. The grey, frustrated bunny that had thrown it there flopped down on the bed beside the pile in nothing but her new, specially bought, matching underwear. Judy let out a huge sigh as she sank into the bed and closed her eyes. Her thoughts instantly turned to Nick, which brought a slight smile to her face. She allowed herself a brief moment to daydream about her fox. However, just as she started to relax a little she heard her phone vibrate on her desk. She jumped up and grabbed it, tapping the notification to open a message from Nick.

'Setting off now. xxx' Judy tossed the phone onto her bed and pulled a short, summery dress from the maybe pile. She was just about to put it on when she changed her mind again and decided to play it safe with a short skirt, black and white striped top and a denim jacket. After a quick going over with the brush to tame any unruly hairs, she headed downstairs to meet Nick.

A few minutes went by while Judy stood taking in the warmth of the summer evening sunset. The rumble and rattle of an old engine caught Judy's attention and when she looked down the street she spotted a bright orange VW split screen bus chugging its way towards her, with non-other than Nicholas Wilde at the wheel.

When the bus came to a stop by the curb in front of Judy she hopped over to it and leaned against the open window frame.

"You have got to be kidding me," Judy said as she looked around the surprisingly well-kept interior.

"What's up carrots?" Nick said with a sly grin.

"I think I'll take a cab," Judy joked as she opened the door and climbed onto the bench seat in the front of the bus.

"Nice to see you too," Nick said sarcastically as he jerked the bus into motion.

* * *

After a 15-minute drive through the city, Nick and Judy pulled into the car-park behind the cinema. Only when he was backing into a parking space did Nick catch Judy's eyes watching him. her grey fur seemed to glisten in the evening sunset and Nick had to fight the urge to run his paw through it. It distracted him so much that he almost hit the fence of the car-park. Luckily, however, he stopped just in time.

The entrance to the cinema was a short paw-in-paw stroll away, down an alley and along to the front door which Nick held open for Judy. Something that he instantly regretted doing because the strain caused a pain in his chest that was like a thousand tiny knives stabbing him all at once. Thankfully Judy didn't seem to notice, the last lecture she had given him about overexerting himself had almost put him to sleep. Needless to say, that didn't go down too well either.

Once inside, Judy headed straight for the self-service ticket machine with Nick following behind her, still recovering from the attack of the door. Nick stepped up behind Judy and was about to wrap his arms around her and rest his muzzle on her head, but something stopped him. It just didn't seem right.

"I got our favourite seats," Judy said, sensing Nicks presence behind her. Whenever they came to the cinema they tried to get the seats at the edge beside the stairs because there was only 2 between the stairs and the wall. Not having anybody sat on either side made it more private and they both felt more comfortable without every other mammal's eyes on them.

"You only get them seats so you can sleep on me," Nick said finally finding the courage to awkwardly put his paws around Judy's middle.

"I do not!" Judy protested. Covering her mouth when she realised how loud it had come out. She looked around the room scowling at any disapproving eyes looking their way. Nick didn't know what to do he just froze with his paws still around Judy, accusing eyes staring directly at him. Knowing exactly what was going through their minds, Nick didn't know what to do. If he let go it would look suspicious and if he did nothing it would be creepy. In what was either a moment of panic or a sudden realisation that nobody else mattered Nick moved his paw up and cupped Judy's cheek, making her look at him. As soon as her eyes met his they softened and the disapproving stare she had been dishing out disappeared. Her heart was racing. She didn't know what Nick was doing. They had agreed on no public affection just yet, but she found herself wanting to stretch go and kiss him.

"They don't matter," Nick said softly. His eyes deepened and his mouth turned up into a genuine smile. Judy instantly calmed down, a mixture of relief and disappointment that he hadn't kissed her filled her. And he was right, they didn't matter. Why should she and Nick change because of what other mammals might think? They weren't doing anything wrong, just a little unusual and unusual never hurt anybody... did it?

Walking up to the counter to buy popcorn and drinks, Judy found herself dwelling on her last thought. She could still feel eyes piercing her hand started to wonder if what they were doing was too far. She slid her paw out of Nick's and took a small sidestep to put a gap between them, quietly hoping that Nick wouldn't notice.

"Everything alright fluff?" Nick asked curiously with a concerned look on his face.

Judy looked up to him and let out a little sigh. "I'm fine, I just feel like everyone is staring, I'm a little uncomfortable, that's all."

"It's almost our turn, then we'll be in the screen and nobody will even notice us," Nick said just as they were called to the counter.

"What'll it be?" asked a young overly enthusiastic raccoon who obviously enjoyed his job far too much.

"One medium popcorn, 2 nachos, and two small Iceblasts please," Nick asked. It was an automatic response, he and Judy had been here so many times he didn't even have to think about the order.

"Coming right up." The raccoon chipped as he spun away to get everything ready.

Judy went to get her purse out but Nick stopped her

"I'm getting these. you got the tickets, remember," He said, pulling his own wallet out.

"I did... but you saved me," Judy replied, looking up at Nick with wide eyes.

"I guess we're even then," Nick said his grin spreading from ear to ear. But before anything else could be said the young raccoon returned.

"That'll be 18 dollars are 50 cents." He chipped happily. Nick quickly handed over a 20 before Judy could get her paw in her purse.

"And your change." The raccoon said after mere seconds. He was so fast that Nick had to double check the amount. Not that he would have said anything if it was wrong, he just didn't believe anybody could count money so fast.

They made their way to screen 2, the only drama being the usual funny look from the mammal checking tickets. Nick slid into the seats first and let Judy sit by the stairs. This wasn't by accident either, he knew for a fact that by the halfway point he would have a bunny trying to lean on him, having the wall to slouch against made it much more comfortable. After about 5 minutes the room darkened and the screen lit up. Before the ads had even finished the centre armrest was up and Judy was making herself at home against Nick's side. Having nowhere else to put it he draped his arm around her and stole a nacho or two from her box.

The movie started and Judy began to relax, the stress and worries she had earlier slipped away as she tucked her feet into the oversized chair and cuddled into Nick's side. Her brain told her not to because it's only a first date, but it wasn't really their first date and she would have quite happily snuggled into him any other time they were in here. The soft purr that came out of him when she tentatively hooked her paw around his thigh told her that cuddling was probably OK. They stayed like this for most of the movie, only moving when Nick shuffled to get a bit more comfortable.

Once the end credits started rolling, Judy sat up and stretched but neither of them rushed to get up, they normally stayed put until it got a bit quieter to avoid getting squished by somebody larger.

The nighttime air of Sahara square was still uncomfortably warm, the gentle breeze only provided a brief respite before disappearing and being replaced by the heat. Nick looked around the strip. He played with the idea of calling it a night but he wasn't ready to end it just yet.

"Should we go for a drink before we call it a night?" Nick asked hinting towards one of the quieter looking bars.

"Maybe one or two quiet ones." Said Judy. She smiled up at Nick and they headed off towards the king's paws. Naturally, one or two quiet drinks turned into three or four quiet drinks before developing into some not so quiet drinks. Before they knew it both Nick and Judy were stumbling into the back of a waiting cab.

Straightening herself out Judy gave the driver their destination address.  
"Downtown, 237 Sheering lane please Mr driver mammal." She chipped, fastening her seat belt and helping Nick up straight.

Nick fumbled with his seat belt but gave up after a minute or two, after all his apartment was only a 10-minute drive away at this time of day. He paused at that thought.

"That's my address." He said to Judy, who raised an eyebrow at him before flopping against his side and hooking her paw back under his thigh like she had earlier, only this time she made little circles with her thumb. The feeling of that paw starting to make it's way uphill had Nick gently placing his paw over it and resting his head on top of Judy's

The driver pulled up outside of Nick's building, he hadn't said a single word for the entire journey, not even when he asked for payment. He just pointed to the meter and held out his paw. Nick squinted to read the meter. $15.50 from Sahara square wasn't a bad price, normally he would hand over a 20 and tell the driver to keep the change but this time he gave him the exact amount and carefully fumbled his way out of the back of the car.

"He was a barrel of laughs," Nick said once the cab had driven off.

Judy shrugged and made her way to Nicks side, grabbing his paw with both of hers.

"I'm drunk." She mumbled with a hiccup as if to prove her point.

"That makes two of us," Nick said as he stared at his keys looking for the fob to open the door of the building.

Once he had found it and they were inside, they stepped into the waiting elevator.

"Now Miss Hopps, the Wilde residence has a few important rules."

"Oh it does, does it," Judy said with a cheeky grin.

"Rule number 1," Nick said, counting on his fingers. "No drunk bunnies are to vomit on the furniture."

"I can't promise anything," Judy said in her best serious voice.

"Rule 2. Nicholas Wilde is unable to sleep fully clothed so you'll have to either sleep on the couch or get comfortable next to a nearly naked fox."

"I think that's my favourite rule," Judy said as her paw ran down Nick's chest.

"Rule 3. Grey bunnies must give Nicholas a kiss before entering the apartment."

"That's a close second," Judy said softly. She slowly wrapped her arms around Nick's neck and pulled him into a tender kiss, which she only realised at that moment was their first official kiss. Judy's heart immediately started racing and she filled with excitement, only for the elevator doors to open and ruin the moment.

"Final rule," Nick said as he put the key in the door. "What happens at the Wilde residence… stays at the Wilde residence."

"Honestly… that one scares me a little bit," Judy joked as the door closed behind them.


End file.
